Infections in neurosurgery: using laboratory data to plan optimal treatment strategies

Drugs
Erwin M Brown

Abstract

Laboratory services contribute to the management of patients with neurosurgical infections in a variety of ways and, in so doing, increase the likelihood of a favourable outcome. Microbiology laboratories and clinical microbiologists are able to confirm the diagnosis, identify the causative agents and facilitate optimal antimicrobial therapy. Other pathology specialties perform investigations which help neurosurgeons to differentiate between postoperative aseptic and bacterial meningitis, these disease processes being indistinguishable on clinical grounds. A broad range of variables have been evaluated to date, but only the lactate and interleukin-1beta concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid have been shown to have sufficiently high sensitivities and specificities to be useful for this purpose. In preliminary studies measurement of the serum C-reactive protein concentration has been shown to be an effective criterion for monitoring the response to antibacterial therapy in patients with spinal extradural abscesses, postoperative discitis, brain abscesses and subdural empyemas, thereby enabling patients to be treated successfully with courses of these drugs that are markedly shorter than those currently recommended.

References

Oct 1, 1989·Otolaryngology--head and Neck Surgery : Official Journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery·P S RolandB E Mickey
Apr 1, 1989·Clinical Otolaryngology and Allied Sciences·J H Dempster
Jul 1, 1974·Journal of Neurosurgery·P W CarmelB M Stein
Oct 1, 1983·Neurosurgery·C E RawlingsR Francis
Jan 1, 1993·The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal·X Sáez-Llorens, F Lagrutta
Jan 1, 1993·The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal·R Dagan
Jan 1, 1996·Acta neurochirurgica·A B Jamjoom
Jun 1, 1997·Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·D GendrelC Bohuon
Aug 1, 1997·The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal·D L Jaye, K B Waites
Aug 5, 1999·Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·B BylJ P Thys
Aug 5, 1999·Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·S L LeibW Zimmerli
Aug 18, 1999·Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·A ViallonJ C Bertrand
Jul 13, 2000·Critical Care Medicine·S SchwarzW Hacke

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Mar 9, 2006·Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research·Sotirios Tsiodras, Matthew E Falagas

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Brain Abscess

Brain abscess is an accumulation of pus caused by inflammation and infected materials in the brain. Symptoms include fever, headache, seizures and other neurological problems. Discover the latest research on brain abscess today.

Bacterial Meningitis (ASM)

Bacterial meningitis continues to be an important cause of mortality and morbidity throughout the world. Here is the latest research.

Bacterial Meningitis

Bacterial meningitis continues to be an important cause of mortality and morbidity throughout the world. Here is the latest research.

Related Papers

Science
H M Stanley
Science
A A Goldenweiser
Neurosurgical Review
A P Karapurkar, S K Pandya
Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery
Adam O Hebb, Andrew V Poliakov
© 2022 Meta ULC. All rights reserved