Topical vancomycin to reduce surgical-site infections in neurosurgery: Study protocol for a multi-center, randomized controlled trial

A meta‐analysis examined the effect of intrawound vancomycin on surgical site wound infections in non‐spinal neurosurgical operation

To assess the impact of intrawound vancomycin on surgical site wound infections in non-spinal neurosurgical operations, we conducted a meta-analysis. A thorough review of the literature up to September 2022 showed that 4286 participants had a non-spinal neurosurgical operation at the start of the investigations; 1975 of them used intrawound vancomycin, while 2311 were control. Using dichotomous or contentious methods and a random or fixed-effect model, odds ratios (OR) and mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated to evaluate the impact of intrawound vancomycin on surgical site wound infections in non-spinal neurosurgical operation. The intrawound vancomycin had significantly lower surgical site wound infections (OR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.19-0.40; P < .001) with low heterogeneity (I2 = 32%) compared with the control in non-spinal neurosurgical operation. The intrawound vancomycin had significantly lower surgical site wound infections compared with control in non-spinal neurosurgical operation. The low sample size of 2 out of 13 researches in the meta-analysis calls for care when analysing the results.

Role of topical vancomycin in reduction of postoperative infections in head trauma patients: A developing country experience

Background:

Postoperative cranial wound infections are a major cause of morbidity, mortality, and financial burden, especially in developing countries.

Methods:

We prospectively studied 86 patients in a randomized trial; 39 patients received one gram of topical vancomycin powder in the subgaleal space while 47 matched control patients did not. Both groups received identical intraoperative and post-operative care. The primary outcome variable was the postoperative wound infections rate factored by cohort. Secondary outcomes were the timing of infection and the rate of adverse events.

Results:

Adding topical vancomycin was associated with a significantly lower rate of infection than the standard of care alone (2.6% [1/39] vs. 14.9% [7/47], P =.004). No adverse reactions occurred.

Conclusion:

Topical vancomycin is safe, and effective in the prevention of surgical site infections following craniotomy. These findings have broad consequences for neurosurgery practice, especially in developing countries with high incidence of head trauma.

Topical vancomycin for neurosurgery wound prophylaxis: an interim report of a randomized clinical trial on drug safety in a diverse neurosurgical population

OBJECTIVE

Postoperative surgical site infections (SSIs) in neurosurgical patients carry a significant risk of increased morbidity and mortality. With SSIs accounting for approximately 20% of nosocomial infections and costing approximately $1.6 billion USD annually, there is a need for additional prophylaxis to improve current standards of care. Topical vancomycin is increasingly utilized in instrumented spinal and cardiothoracic procedures, where it has been shown to reduce the risk of SSIs. A randomized controlled trial assessing its efficacy in the general neurosurgical population is currently underway. Here, the authors report their initial impressions of topical vancomycin safety among patients enrolled during the 1st year of the trial.

METHODS

This prospective, multicenter, patient-blinded, randomized controlled trial will enroll 2632 patients over 5 years. Here, the authors report the incidence of adverse events, the degree of systemic vancomycin absorption in treated patients, and pattern changes of antibiotic-resistant profiles of Staphylococcus aureus flora among patients enrolled during the 1st year.

RESULTS

The topical vancomycin treatment group comprised 257 patients (514 total enrolled patients), of whom 2 exhibited weakly positive serum levels of vancomycin (> 3.0 mg/dl). S. aureus was detected preoperatively in the anterior nares of 35 (18.1%) patients and the skin near the surgical site of 9 (4.7%). Colonization in the nares remained for many patients (71.4%) through postoperative day 30. The authors found a significant association between preoperative S. aureus colonization and postoperative colonization. Seven methicillin-resistant isolates were detected among 6 different patients. Two isolates were detected preoperatively, and 5 were de novo postoperative colonization. No adverse responses to treatment have been reported to date.

CONCLUSIONS

The authors' data indicate that the use of topical vancomycin is safe with no significant adverse effects and minimal systemic absorption, and no development of vancomycin-resistant microorganisms.Clinical trial registration no.: NCT02284126 (clinicaltrials.gov).