Prolonged Antibiotics for Drains After Spine Injury Instrumentation for Trauma: Not Prophylactic or Necessary

Antibiotics after spine instrumentation are often extended while the surgical drain is in place, particularly for traumatic injuries. We sought to study if continuing antibiotics past 24 hours affected outcomes.

We performed a retrospective observational study of all patients who underwent spine fixation with hardware and surgical drains for trauma at our institution. We compared the effect of perioperative (≤24 hours of antibiotics) versus prolonged (>24 hours) antibiotics on surgical outcomes. Bivariate and multivariable logistic and linear regression statistics were performed.

Three hundred and forty-six patients were included in the analysis. On multivariate analysis, antibiotic duration >24 hours did not predict surgical site infection (odds ratio, 2.68; 95% confidence interval, 0.88-8.10, P = 0.08) or mortality (odds ratio, 0.59; 95% confidence interval, 0.10-3.44; P = 0.56).

Continuing antibiotics past 24 hours after traumatic spine instrumentation was not associated with improved outcomes. A prospective study to verify these findings may be warranted.