A Prospective Analysis of Complications of Intracranial Tumor Surgery

Abstract

There is a recent trend toward delivering neurosurgical care in large supraregional centers with intradepartmental subspecialization. We report a 14-year prospective audit of a single surgeon's experience of intracranial tumor surgery with an emphasis on complications. A total of 616 procedures were performed on 596 patients of which 321 were male and 275 were female (age range: 1-84 years). Tumors were categorized as glioma, meningioma, metastasis, and other. Complications were recorded as infection, intracranial hematoma, neurologic deterioration, and death. Of the 305 patients who underwent glioma surgery, 4 (1.3%) developed a hematoma, 4 (1.3%) had neurologic deterioration, 5 (1.6%) died within 30 days of surgery, and 1 (0.33%) had an infection. Of the 120 patients who underwent surgery for meningioma, 8 (6.6%) developed an infection, 1 (0.83%) developed a hematoma, and 7 (5.8%) had neurologic deterioration. Of the 59 patients who underwent surgery for brain metastasis, 1 (1.7%) had neurologic deterioration. Of the remaining patients, 4 (3.0%) developed infection and 6 (4.5%) had neurologic deterioration. The overall complication rate was infection, 2.1%; hematoma, 0.8%; neurologic deterioration, 2.9%; and death, 0.8%. These results compare favorably with published series.

Efficacy of intensive antibiotic regimens on postcraniotomy fever and cerebrospinal fluid examination results in patients with infratentorial surgeries

“…The incidence of postcraniotomy fever caused by infection was 2.1%. [19] The incidences of meningitis and bacterial meningitis were 4.54% and 0.87% respectively in 1146 patients with tumors in the cerebellopontine angle region. Significantly elevated WBC counts and relatively low level of glucose in CSF were confirmed in patients with bacterial meningitis, while slightly elevated WBC counts and normal level of sugar in CSF were observed in patients with chemical meningitis.…”