Vancomycin Effectiveness in Reducing Surgical Site Infection in Posterior Spinal Fusion Surgery

Study Design. – Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. Objective. – To reevaluate vancomycin as a preventive measure for surgical site infection (SSI). Summary of Background Data. – Intrawound vancomycin powder is used to prevent SSIs in spinal surgery. Prior studies, often limited to single institutions or small samples, have shown mixed efficacy and potential increases in non-S. aureus and gram-negative infections. We hypothesized that SSIs rates would be similar with and without intrawound vancomycin in posterior spinal fusion (PSF) surgery. Methods. – Prospectively collected data from the 3, 595 patients in the STaphylococcus aureus suRgical Inpatient Vaccine Efficacy (STRIVE) trial were stratified by intrawound antibiotic usage. Multivariate logistic regression assessed the effect of vancomycin use on SSI, adjusting for patient demographics and SSI-associated risk factors. Secondary outcomes included critical care stay, reoperation, sepsis, and hospital readmission. Results. – Of 3, 311 patients who underwent surgery, 847 (26%) received only intrawound vancomycin and 1, 534 (46%) received no intrawound antibiotics. Sixty (8%) patients developed postoperative SSI, of whom 20 (33%) had received intrawound vancomycin. Receiving intrawound vancomycin was not associated with SSI incidence versus no intrawound antibiotics (odds ratio [OR] = 0.77; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.42–1.42), critical care stay (OR = 0.94; 95% CI 0.78–1.12), or sepsis (OR 2.04; 95% CI 0.62–6.73). However, intrawound vancomycin was associated with increased odds of hospital readmission (OR 1.82; 95% CI 1.28–2.6; P < .001) and reoperation (OR 1.75; 95% CI 1.18–2.6; P = .005). Factors significantly associated with intrawound vancomycin use included intraoperative antibiotic readministration (OR 2.97; 95% CI 1.36–6.5; P=.006) and hospital location, lower odds in Europe (OR 0.13; 95% CI 0.06–0.29; P < .001) or Asia (OR: 0.02; 95% CI 0–0.08; P < .001) versus North America. Conclusion. – Intraoperative vancomycin use was not associated with reduced SSI incidence compared to no intrawound antibiotics following PSF surgery.