Antimicrobial Sutures Reduce Infections in Brain Shunt Surgery

A new study has shown that using antimicrobial sutures to secure the drainage shunt used in children born with hydrocephalus significantly reduces the number of shunt infections arising during the first six months after surgery.

Researchers at the University at Buffalo (UB, NY, USA) followed 61 children requiring shunt surgery who were randomly assigned to undergo surgery with antimicrobial sutures or with regular sutures. Eighty-four shunt procedures were performed over 21 months. All procedures were performed by one of two pediatric neurosurgeons at Women & Children's Hospital of Kaleida Health (Buffalo, NY, USA).

The study results showed that at the trial's end, the shunt infection rate in the antimicrobial suture group was 4.3% (2 of 46 procedures), compared to 21% (8 of 38 procedures) in the control group. The study was published in the August 2008, issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.

"Closing wounds with antimicrobial sutures may reduce infections in procedures implanting other devices, such as pacemakers and neurostimulators, pumps that deliver pharmaceuticals and shunts elsewhere in the body,” said lead author Curtis J. Rozzelle, M.D., an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Hydrocephalus is derived from the Greek: hydro meaning water and cephalus meaning head. The primary characteristic of hydrocephalus is excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain. Once known as water in the brain, the water is actually cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The excessive accumulation of CSF results in an abnormal widening of spaces in the brain called ventricles. This widening creates potentially harmful pressure on the tissues of the brain. Hydrocephalus is usually treated by surgically inserting a shunt system that diverts the flow of CSF from the central nervous system to another area of the body where it can be absorbed as part of the normal circulatory process.


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