INTRACRANIAL INFECTION RATE;

Objectives: The aim of our study is to determine the prevalence of post operativeintracranial infection rate, at Civil Hospital Karachi, Pakistan. Study Design: Retrospectiveanalysis of cases of craniotomy, studying the files of patients who had the procedure done.Setting: Neurosurgical Department at Civil Hospital Karachi Pakistan. Period: Ten years period(2005 to 2015). Method: To determine the incidence and factors associated with infection a subgroup analysis was done in all those patients in whom the intracranial infection was caused by acranial surgery. Patients who were administered antibiotics for the treatment of infection were notincluded also those who were treated for wound infection without intracranial involvement. Datawas analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: A total of 5800 cranial surgical procedures wereperformed by a team of 30 neurosurgeons and residents. And a total n= 116 (2%) procedureswere done due to post operative infection on a total of n= 70 patients. N= 37 patients weremale and n= 33 patients were female, the median age of patients was 50 years and the agerange was from 2 to 75 years. The procedures were performed as elective procedures in n=56 (80%) patients and as an emergency case in n= 14 (20%) patients. The most commonorganism was methicillin sensitive staphylococcus aureus, and the most surgeries who werefound to have a high incidence of post operative infection for craniotomies done for removal ofa tumor. Conclusion: The postoperative infection is one of the most important complications ofcranial surgical procedures and required immediate attention and treatment, even after takingall the precautionary measures to ensure sterility a small number of patients still develop severeinfection needing reoperation for removal of debris and pus.