Post-operative shampoo effects in neurosurgical patients: a pilot experimental study

Neurosurgical site infections are an important issue. Among the acknowledged preventive tactics, the non-shaving technique is well established in the neurosurgical setting. However, given that patient's hair around the surgical site may retain biologic material that emerges during the surgical procedure or that may simply become dirty, which may increase the risk of surgical site infections, if and when shampooing should be offered remains under debate.

A pilot experimental study was undertaken from 2011 to 2012. A series of neurosurgical patients not affected by conditions that would increase the risk of post-operative infection were assigned randomly to the exposed group (receiving shampoo 72 h after surgical procedure) or control group (receiving standard dressing surveillance without shampooing). Comfort, surgical site contamination (measured as the number of colony-forming units [CFU]), and SSIs at 30 d after surgery were the main study outcomes.

A total of 53 patients were included: 25 (47.2%) received a shampoo after 72 h whereas 28 (52.8%) received standard care. Patients who received a shampoo reported a similar level of comfort (average=8.04; standard deviation [SD] 1.05) compared with those receiving standard care (average 7.3; SD 3.2) although this was not statistically significant (p=0.345). No statistically significant difference emerged in the occurrence of surgical site contamination between the groups, and no SSIs were detected within 30 d.

In our pilot study, the results of which are not generalizable because of the limited sample of patients involved, a gentle shampoo offered 72 h after the surgical procedure did not increase the SSIs occurrence or the contamination of the surgical site, although it may increase the perception of comfort by patients. Further studies are strongly recommended involving a larger sample size and designed to include more diversified neurosurgical patients undergoing surgical procedures in different centers.