McCutcheon et al reported risk factors for surgical site infection (SSI) following craniotomy for a brain tumor. The authors are from the Mayo Clinic.
Patient selection: status post craniotomy for intracranial neoplasm
Rate of SSI: 2%
Risk factors for surgical site infection from multivariate analysis:
(1) preoperative wound infection (OR 3.8)
(2) operative time > 4 hours (OR 1.9)
(3) recent chemotherapy (OR 3.0)
Factors protective against surgical site infection:
(1) older age (OR 0.991)
(2) female sex (OR 0.7)
Associations with surgical site infection:
(1) increased rate of return to the OR
(2) postoperative length of stay > 30 days
