Infections in Deep Brain Stimulator Surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Deep brain stimulation has emerged as an effective treatment for movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, and essential tremor with estimates of >100,000 deep brain stimulators (DBSs) implanted worldwide since 1980s. Infections rates vary widely in the literature with rates as high as 25%. Traditional management of infection after deep brain stimulation is systemic antibiotic therapy with wound incision and debridement (I&D) and removal of implanted DBS hardware. The aim of this study is to evaluate the infections occurring after DBS placement and implantable generator (IPG) placement in order to better prevent and manage these infections.Materials/Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 203 patients who underwent implantation of a DBS at a single institution. For initial electrode placement, patients underwent either unilateral or bilateral electrode placement with implantation of the IPG at the same surgery and IPG replacements occurred as necessary. For patients with unilateral electrodes, repeat surgery for placement of contralateral electrode was performed when desired. Preoperative preparation with ethyl alcohol occurred in all patients while use of intra-operative vancomycin powder was surgeon dependent. All patients received 24 hours of postoperative antibiotics. Primary endpoint was surgical wound infection or brain abscess located near the surgically implanted DBS leads. Infections were classified as early (<90 days) or late (>90 days). Infectious organisms were recorded based on intra-operative wound cultures. Number of lead implantations, IPG replacements and choice of presurgical, intra-operative, and postsurgical antibiotics were recorded and outcomes compared.Results: Two hundred and three patients underwent 391 electrode insertions and 244 IPG replacements. Fourteen patients developed an infection (10 early versus 4 late); 12 after implantation surgery (3%) and 2 after IPG replacement surgery (0.8%). No intracranial abscesses were found. Most common sites were the chest and connector. Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) was the most common organism. Intra-operative vancomycin powder did not decrease infection risk. Vancomycin powder use was shown to increase risk of infection after electrode implantation surgery (Relative Risk 5.5080, p = 0.02063). Complete hardware removal occurred in eight patients, one patient had electrode only removal, three patients with I&D and no removal of hardware, and two patients with removal of IPG and extensor cables only. All patients were treated with postoperative intravenous antibiotics and no recurrent infections were found in patients with hardware left in place.Discussion/Conclusion: Infections after DBS implantation and IPG replacement occurred in 3% and 0.8% of patients respectively in our study which is lower than reported historically. Early infections were more common. No intracranial infections were found. Intra-operative use of vancomycin was not shown to decrease risk of infection after electrode implantation surgery or I...

Postoperative Externalization of Deep Brain Stimulation Leads Does Not Increase Infection Risk

“…A further, more recent meta‐analysis examining the rate of wound complications necessitating hardware removal determined a rate of 3.8% per patient (18), though this may underestimate the true infection rate given that a significant proportion of infections may be managed without explantation (e.g., see case 3) (19). Examination of even more recent case series published within the last three years yields similar figures of between 0% and 10.9% with the proviso of significant heterogeneity in the way infection was defined (e.g., the inclusion of skin erosion without signs of infection), denominators used (e.g., patients, procedures, or implants), duration of follow‐up, inclusion of revision surgery in addition to primary implants, surgical technique, anti‐infection measures trialed during the studies, and patient factors (14,18,20–42).…”

Can Deep Brain Stimulation Withdrawal Syndromes Be Avoided by Removing Infected Implanted Pulse Generator and Cables with Contralateral Replacement in the Same Session?

“…However, in cases of obvious infection, this will very likely fail. Furthermore, there is a risk of intracranial infection if the bacteria migrate from the IPG to the electrodes [10][11][12].…”

Skin erosion in deep brain stimulation procedures: Using the temporalis muscle to treat this complication – A technical note

“…[ 1 ] Other authors have not shown that the use of VP is beneficial. [ 6 ] In our practice, we recommend the use of intrawound VP since it increases the antibiotic concentrations locally[ 3 ] without further risks, thus decreasing the incidence of infection.…”