Clinical Outcomes Of Patients Underwent Deep Surgical Site Infections Treated By Vacuum-assisted Wound Closure And Traditional Surgical Debridement And Drainage Following Lumbar Spinal Fusion:a Retrospective Study

ObjectiveWe reviewed clinical data and analyzed the outcome at the last follow-up of patients with deep surgical site infections after lumbar spinal fusion in 4 clinical centers of Guangdong Hospital of Chinese Medicine from 2008 to 2014 to investigate clinical outcomes of them.MethodsWe analyzed their ages,pre-surgery VAS scores,hospital stay,direct economic burden,operation times,VAS score at the last follow-up of patients with deep surgical site infections after lumbar spinal fusion in Guangdong Hospital of Chinese Medical from 2008 to 2014.Resu!tFor all 32 patients,4 patients were dead,2 patients were lost in touch,and 26 were followed up effectively.According to the treatment methods,they were divided into two groups:for patients treated with traditional surgical debridement and drainage,the mean age of them is 61.680±10.204,the mean pre-surgery VAS score is 6.053±0.524;for patients treated with vacuum-assisted wound closure,the mean age of them is 61.570±9.467,the mean pre-surgery VAS score is 6.286±0.488.There was no significant difference between the age and the pre-surgery VAS score.For patients treated with traditional surgical debridement and drainage,their median duration of hospital stay was 19.00 days,the median of the direct economic burden caused by infections is 36208.40 yuan,the median time of operation is 1.00,the median VAS score at the last follow-up was 3.00;for patients treated with vacuum-assisted wound closure,their median duration of hospital stay was 61.00 days,the median of the direct economic burden caused by infections is 70822.47 yuan,the median time of operation is 3.00,the median VAS score at the last follow-up was 2.00.The comparison between the two groups showed that there was a statistically significant difference in hospital stay,direct economic burden and operation times(hospital stay P=0.025<0.05,direct economic burden P=0.010<0.05,operation times P=0.003<0.05).There was no significant difference between the VAS score at the last follow-up.ConclusionTraditional surgical debridement and drainage and vacuum-assisted wound closure both are effective to treat wound infection after lumbar spinal fusion.Compared with vacuum-assisted wound closure,traditional surgical debridement and drainage can not only reduce the economic burden of patients as well as decrease operation times but also reduce the consumption of medical resources.