892 - Meningitis after Ventricular Shunt Operations: Multicenter Study to Identify Etiology, Incidence and Risk Factors

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Presenting Author(s)

LUCCA G. GIAROLA

Medical Student
Centro Universitário de Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Co-Author(s)

HD

Handerson Dias Duarte de Carvalho

Student
Centro Universitário de Belo Horizonte - UniBH
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Braulio Roberto Gonçalves Marinho Couto

Professor (PhD)
Centro Universitário de Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
CE

Carlos Ernesto Ferreira Starling

MD
Lifecenter Hospital
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Background: A Ventriculoperitoneal shunt is the main treatment for communicating hydrocephalus. Surgical site infection associated with the shunt device is the most common complication and an expressive cause of morbidity and mortality of the treatment.
The objective of our study is to answer three questions: a)What is the risk of meningitis after ventricular shunt operations? b) What are the risk factors for meningitis? c) What are the main microorganisms causing meningitis?

Methods: A retrospective cohort study assessed meningitis and risk factors in patients undergoing ventricular shunt operations between 2015/Jul and 2018/Jun from 12 hospitals at Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Data were gathered by standardized methods defined by the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN)/CDC procedure-associated protocols for routine SSI surveillance. Sample size = 926.
26 variables were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis (logistic regression).

Results: 71 patients were diagnosed with meningitis which represent a risk of 7.7% (C.I.95%= 6.1%; 9.6%). From the 26 variables, three were acknoleged as risk factors: age < two years old (OR = 3.20; p < 0.001), preoperative hospital length of stay > four days (OR = 2.02 ; p = 0.007) and more than one surgical procedure (OR = 3.23 ; p = 0.043). Patients two or more years old, who had surgery four days after hospital admission, had increased risk of meningitis from 4% to 6% (p = 0.140). If a patient < two years had surgery four days post hospital admission, the risk is increased from 9% to 18% (p = 0.026). 71 meningitis = > 45 (63%) the etiologic agent identified: Staphylococcus aureus (33%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (22%), Acinetobacter sp (7%), Enterococcus sp (7%), Pseudomonas sp (7%), and other (18%). Hospital length of stay in non-infected patients (days): mean = 21 (sd = 28), median = 9; hospital stay in infected patients: mean = 34 (sd = 37), median = 27 (p=0.025). Mortality rate in patients without infection was 10% while hospital death of infected patients was 13% (p=0.544).

Conclusion: Two intrinsic risk factors for meningitis post ventricular shunt, age under two years old and multiple surgeries, and one extrinsic risk factor, preoperative length of hospital stay, were identified. Incidence of meningitis post VP shunt decreases with urgent surgical treatment.