BUFFALO, N.Y., July 28 (UPI) -- Using anti-microbial sutures to close the wound in children with "water on the brain" significantly reduces the number of infections, U.S. researchers said.
Sixty-one children requiring shunt surgery to reduce pressure on the brain were assigned randomly by University at Buffalo researchers to undergo their surgery with anti-microbial sutures -- the study group -- or with usual sutures -- the control group. A total of 84 shunt procedures were performed over 21 months. All procedures were performed by one of two pediatric neurosurgeons at Women & Children's Hospital of Kaleida Health in Buffalo.
First author Curtis J. Rozzelle said the shunt infection rate in the study group was 4.3 percent, or 2 of 46 procedures, compared to 21 percent, 8 of 38 procedures, in the control group.
"Our results showed that using anti-microbial sutures reduced infection risk by 16 percent," Rozzelle said in a statement. "Closing wounds with anti-microbial sutures may reduce infections in procedures implanting other devices, such as pacemakers and neurostimulators, pumps that deliver pharmaceuticals and shunts elsewhere in the body."
Results of the trial appear online in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics ahead of print of the August issue of the journal.
