Reduction of Instrumentation-Related Spine Surgical Site Infections After Optimization of Surgical Techniques. A Single Center Retrospective Analysis

Abstract

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study. Objective: Although surgical risk factors for developing spine surgical site infections (S-SSI) have been identified, the impact of such knowledge in its prevention has not been demonstrated. Methods: We evaluated in 500 patients undergoing spine surgery between 2011 and 2019 at Hospital 12 de Octubre the changes in S-SSI rates over time. Surgical variables independently related to S-SSI were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis using binary logistic regression models. A case-control sub-analysis (1:4), matched by the surgical variables identified in the overall cohort was also performed. Results: Twenty cases of S-SSI were identified (4%), with a significant decrease in the incidence rate across consecutive time periods (6.6% [2011-2014] vs.86% [2015-2019]; P-value