Prevention and Treatment of Hardware-Related Infections in Deep Brain Stimulation Surgeries: A Retrospective and Historical Controlled Study

BACKGROUND: Hardware-related infection in deep brain stimulation (DBS) is one of the most commonly reported complications frequently resulting in the removal of implantable pulse generator (IPG). OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to establish a useful strategy to better prevent and treat those infections and to improve the preservation rates of IPG. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective and historical controlled study of all adult patients (≥18 years old) who had undergone initial DBS implantation at a single center. All participants were enrolled in the control group (between June 2005 and June 2014) or intervention group (between July 2014 and May 2019) based on their surgery dates. We used the intraoperative irrigation with hydrogen dioxide solution in the intervention group. Based on the dates of diagnosis, patients with hardware-related infection after DBS were enrolled in group A (between June 2005 and June 2014) or group B (between July 2014 and May 2019). IPG-sparing algorithm (Isa) was applied for group B. The early-onset IPG infections of the control and intervention groups were evaluated. The IPG preservation rates in both groups A and B were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: Six cases of early IPG infection and subsequent IPG removal occurred in the control group, while none occurred after intraoperative usage of the hydrogen dioxide in the intervention group. IPG preservation rate of infected cases in group B was significantly higher than that in group A (70% vs.16%, p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: The combined application of hydrogen dioxide solution and Isa seems to be an effective strategy to prevent IPG infection.