CClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT03857295INSUpdated Feb 27, 2019

Infections Following NeuroSurgery (INS)

An observational study in Infections Nervous System, Nosocomial Infection and Bacterial Infections, sponsored by Neuromed IRCCS. Status unknown. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-02-27.

Sponsored by Neuromed IRCCS · Observational

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Feb 2019), so the status shown — last known as Not yet recruiting — may be out of date.
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Retrospective
Enrollment
150
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Neurosurgery (NS) is essential for the treatment of various diseases such as malignant tumors, vascular conditions, spinal stenosis or trauma. However, NS can be complicated by the onset of infections, directly related to surgery or to hospitalization.

Little is known regarding the epidemiology, the optimal treatment regimens and the outcome of infections following NS (I-NS).

The study aims at investigating the clinical and microbiological characteristics as well as the outcomes of I-NS occurring at a single Institution (IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy) during the period 2016-2018.

Patients with at least 1 infective episode requiring antimicrobial therapy are included in this retrospective observational study.

Read the detailed description

Neurosurgery (NS) is essential for the treatment of various diseases such as malignant tumors, vascular conditions, spinal stenosis or trauma. However, one of the major complication is the occurrence of infections following NS (I-NS), with reported rate between 0.5% and 15% depending on the type of NS and the presence/absence of foreign bodies (i.e ventricular shunts, brain stimulators, spinal fixation systems).

I-NS might be related to NS and include meningitis, brain abscesses or spinal infections; I-NS might be also related to the hospitalization and include nosocomial pneumonia, bloodstream and urinary tract infections, especially in elder and frail patients.

While risk factors have been investigated in several studies, little is known about the epidemiology, the optimal treatment regimens and the outcomes of I-NS.

The knowledge of the causative agents of I-NS and the local epidemiology might lead to an early initiation of an appropriate and definite antimicrobial therapy, with obvious consequences in terms of treatment failure and mortality reduction, in line with antimicrobial stewardship principles. Moreover, being aware of the outcomes of I-NS might allow the comprehension of the risk factors associated with clinical cure, recurrence or mortality.

Based on these premises, the principal aim of this single-center, retrospective, observational study is to evaluate the clinical and microbiological characteristics as well as the outcomes of I-NS observed at IRCCS Neuromed (Pozzilli, Italy) over the 2016-2018 period.

Secondary aims are:

i) to analyze the clinical and microbiological characteristics based on the different types of I-NS (i.e. meningitis, brain abscesses, spinal infections, nosocomial pneumonia, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections); ii) to investigate the presence of multi-drug resistance of the causative agents of I-NS; iii) to correlate the antimicrobial treatment regimens with the observed outcomes of I-NS (i.e. clinical cure, recurrence of infections at 6 months, 30-days mortality).

Patients hospitalized at IRCCS Neuromed with at least 1 infective episode requiring antimicrobial therapy between 2016-2018 will be included in the study. Data will be collected from patient records and will be anonymously registered in an electronic database.

The following data will be collected: type of infection (defined in in accordance with international guidelines); general characteristics of patients (age, gender, type and number of NS, reason for NS, comorbidities); clinical presentation of I-NS (sepsis/septic shock); laboratory and radiological data; microbiological characteristics of I-NS (causative agents; antimicrobial susceptibility profile); antimicrobial therapy (type and number of antimicrobials, length of therapy, empiric versus definite therapy); outcome (30-days mortality, clinical cure, 6-months recurrence of infection)

02

Conditions studied

  • Infections Nervous System
  • Nosocomial Infection
  • Bacterial Infections
  • Antibiotic Resistant Infection

Keywords

  • infections
  • neurosurgery
  • multi drug resistance
  • spondylodiscitis
  • sepsis
03

In context

Infections

6,687 studies on the registry are indexed under Infections; 807 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 150 is below the median of 240 across 2,136 observational studies indexed under Infections.

Browse Infections studies →

Lead sponsor

Neuromed IRCCS is the lead sponsor of 76 studies on the registry; 23 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
Child (0–17), Adult (18–64), Older adult (65+)
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Probability sample

Study population

Patients hospitalized at IRCCS Neuromed with at least 1 infective episode requiring antimicrobial therapy between 2016-2018 will be included in the study. Data will be collected from patient records and will be anonimously registered in an electronic database.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients hospitalized at IRCCS Neuromed between 2016-2018
  • Patients with at least 1 infective episode
  • Patients receiving antimicrobial therapy

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with incomplete data
05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Retrospective
Enrollment
150 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No

Interventions

  • OtherNo interventions

    No intervention

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of participants with sepsis/septic shock

    Sepsis or septic shock at the onset of infection Sepsis includes a life-threatening condition and organ dysfunction induced by a disregulated host response to infection (change ≥2 points in SOFA) and septic shock includes persisting hypotension requiring vasopressors to maintain MAP≥65 mmHg AND serum lactate levels ≥2mmol/L despite adequate liquid support. Collected measurement data will be aggregated as follows: no sepsis/sepsis/septic shock

    Time frame: From the date of inclusion until the date of sepsis/septic shock diagnosis, assessed up to 6 months

  2. Number of participants with multi-drug resistant microorganisms

    Presence of resistance to \>3 class of antimicrobials, as it appears in the antimicrobial susceptibility report. Collected measurement data will be aggregated as follows: presence/absence of multi-drug resistance

    Time frame: From the date of inclusion until the date of antimicrobial susceptibility report availability, assessed up to 6 months

  3. mortality

    Evaluation of mortality of patient with infection.

    Time frame: 30-days

Secondary outcomes

  1. Correlation of the antimicrobial treatment regimens with the observed outcomes of I-NS

    Correlation of the antimicrobial treatment regimens with the observed outcomes of I-NS

    Time frame: 6-months

  2. Number of participants with Recurrence of infection

    Return of the same infection after an infection-free period

    Time frame: 6-months

07

Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

08

References and documents

Publications

  • Renz N, Ozdirik B, Finger T, Vajkoczy P, Trampuz A. Infections After Cranial Neurosurgery: Prospective Cohort of 103 Episodes Treated According to a Standardized Algorithm. World Neurosurg. 2018 Aug;116:e491-e499. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2018.05.017. Epub 2018 May 30. PubMed 29758368 ↗
  • Riordan MA, Simpson VM, Hall WA. Analysis of Factors Contributing to Infections After Cranioplasty: A Single-Institution Retrospective Chart Review. World Neurosurg. 2016 Mar;87:207-13. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2015.11.070. Epub 2015 Dec 22. PubMed 26721616 ↗
  • Conen A, Fux CA, Vajkoczy P, Trampuz A. Management of infections associated with neurosurgical implanted devices. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2017 Mar;15(3):241-255. doi: 10.1080/14787210.2017.1267563. Epub 2016 Dec 13. PubMed 27910709 ↗
  • Chen F, Deng X, Wang Z, Wang L, Wang K, Gao L. Treatment of severe ventriculitis caused by extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii by intraventricular lavage and administration of colistin. Infect Drug Resist. 2019 Jan 21;12:241-247. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S186646. eCollection 2019. PubMed 30718963 ↗
  • McClelland S 3rd, Hall WA. Postoperative central nervous system infection: incidence and associated factors in 2111 neurosurgical procedures. Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Jul 1;45(1):55-9. doi: 10.1086/518580. Epub 2007 May 21. PubMed 17554701 ↗
  • Lener S, Hartmann S, Barbagallo GMV, Certo F, Thome C, Tschugg A. Management of spinal infection: a review of the literature. Acta Neurochir (Wien). 2018 Mar;160(3):487-496. doi: 10.1007/s00701-018-3467-2. Epub 2018 Jan 22. PubMed 29356895 ↗
  • Rutges JP, Kempen DH, van Dijk M, Oner FC. Outcome of conservative and surgical treatment of pyogenic spondylodiscitis: a systematic literature review. Eur Spine J. 2016 Apr;25(4):983-99. doi: 10.1007/s00586-015-4318-y. Epub 2015 Nov 19. PubMed 26585975 ↗
  • Li YD, Wong CB, Tsai TT, Lai PL, Niu CC, Chen LH, Fu TS. Appropriate duration of post-surgical intravenous antibiotic therapy for pyogenic spondylodiscitis. BMC Infect Dis. 2018 Sep 17;18(1):468. doi: 10.1186/s12879-018-3377-1. PubMed 30223785 ↗
  • Horan TC, Andrus M, Dudeck MA. CDC/NHSN surveillance definition of health care-associated infection and criteria for specific types of infections in the acute care setting. Am J Infect Control. 2008 Jun;36(5):309-32. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2008.03.002. No abstract available. Erratum In: Am J Infect Control. 2008 Nov;36(9):655. PubMed 18538699 ↗
  • Singer M, Deutschman CS, Seymour CW, Shankar-Hari M, Annane D, Bauer M, Bellomo R, Bernard GR, Chiche JD, Coopersmith CM, Hotchkiss RS, Levy MM, Marshall JC, Martin GS, Opal SM, Rubenfeld GD, van der Poll T, Vincent JL, Angus DC. The Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock (Sepsis-3). JAMA. 2016 Feb 23;315(8):801-10. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.0287. PubMed 26903338 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 27, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03857295
Lead sponsor
Neuromed IRCCS
Responsible party
Alessandra Oliva (Principal Investigator, Neuromed IRCCS) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 27, 2019
Start date
Mar 11, 2019 (estimated)
Primary completion
Sep 30, 2019 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2019 (estimated)
Last update
Feb 27, 2019

Study contacts

Alessandra Oliva, MD, PhD
Contact
alessandra.oliva81@gmail.com
0039-3291264636
Giuseppe De Benedictis, MD
Contact
giuse.debenedictis@gmail.com
Alessandra Oliva, MD, PhD
principal investigator · IRCCS Neuromed

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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