All children having spine surgery should receive preventive antibiotics within the 60 minutes before surgery to lower the risk of deep wound infection, according to a report in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
The study looked at 989 children up to 18 years old who had spine surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital between 2000 and 2006. The right time for preventive antibiotics was defined as within 60 minutes before the incision, or at the time of the incision.
The rate of surgical site infection was 3.4%, diagnosed about 15 days after surgery. Factors linked with higher risk were antibiotics given at the wrong time, earlier spinal surgery, complex medical conditions, age, fusion of more than ten vertebrae and greater blood loss per kg of body weight. Wrongly timed antibiotics remained a clear predictor of infection after allowing for earlier surgery, the number of vertebrae and complex conditions.
The study confirms that children having spine surgery should receive preventive antibiotics within 60 minutes of the incision to reduce the risk of infection. As the sample was small, more studies are needed.
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