Is Drain Tip Culture Prognostic of Surgical Site Infection? Results of 1380 Drain Tip Cultures in Total Hip Arthroplasty

Suction Drain Tip Culture after Spine Surgery: Can it Predict a Surgical Site Infection?

“…No definitive conclusions have been drawn regarding the associations among the drainage duration, drain tip culture positivity, and the development of SSI in orthopedic surgery [2,3,6,8,12,13]. Moreover, we found no previous spine surgery studies on this topic.…”

“…In a study by Drinkwater and Neil [13], 92 drain tip cultures were investigated after clean orthopedic surgery; if drain removal was performed after 24 hours, the drain tip culture positivity rate increased. Takada et al [12] reported no correlation between the timing of drain removal and the onset of SSI, while a positive drain tip culture was significantly more likely when the drain was removed more than 48 hours postoperatively (after THA in 1,380 closed-suction drain tips). However, Sankar et al [8] noted no significant correlation between wound infection and the duration of drainage.…”

“…Furthermore, no definite conclusions can be drawn from the results of orthopedic surgery, including joint arthroplasty. Several authors have reported the absence of an association between drain tip culture positivity and the development of SSI [5,6,[9][10][11][12]. Petsatodis et al [10] prospectively cultured 110 suction drain tips after total hip arthroplasty (THA) (73 primary and 37 noninfected revisions); 8 cultures were positive, but no SSIs were recorded.…”

“…Petsatodis et al [10] prospectively cultured 110 suction drain tips after total hip arthroplasty (THA) (73 primary and 37 noninfected revisions); 8 cultures were positive, but no SSIs were recorded. Takada et al [12] reported that 1,380 closed-suction drain tips were cultured after primary THA. SSI was observed in four cases (0.3%), all of which had a negative drain tip culture.…”

“…Numerous studies on the use of closed-suction drainage after surgery have reported the results of suction drain tip culture after trauma or elective surgeries [3][4][5][6][7][8], but the relationship between a positive tip culture and SSI remains controversial [2,3,5,6,[8][9][10][11][12]. To date, the diagnostic value of suction drain tip culture for predicting SSI has not been firmly established in orthopedic or spinal surgery.…”