Written by Laura Dyrda
Surgical site infections are serious complications and have a 6 percent to 24 percent prevalence rate among patients who undergo posterior spinal fusion for neuromuscular scoliosis, according to an article in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.
A group of researchers conducted a retrospective review of these patients who underwent posterior spinal fusion from 1980 to 2009. The patients were followed for two years at minimum. There were 428 patients included in the study with 74 percent treated with posterior spinal fusion alone. Average Cobb angle was 74.3 degrees.
Here are eight findings from the report:
1. There was reported deep infection in 10.3 percent of the patients — 44 patients total. A little over half of the infections occurred within three months of surgery and 73 percent had occurred within one year.
2. The infection breakdown was:
• Polymicrobial: 45 percent
• Gram-positive organisms: 59 percent
• Gram-negative organisms: 41 percent
