Cerebrospinal fluid characteristics of patients with intracranial infection after craniotomy in department of neurosurgery: clinical analysis of 310 cases / 中国中西医结合急救杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To compare the differences in biochemical and routine manifestations of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in critically ill patients with intracranial infection caused by different pathogens in department of neurosurgery. Methods The patients with intracranial infection after neurosurgery were admitted in the department of intensive care unit (ICU) of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2016, their examination results of positive CSF samples were obtained, and the differences in biochemical and routine test results among different classes of bacterial pathogens in CSF were compared. Results A total of 404 samples of 310 patients were analyzed; Gram-positive (G+) bacteria were the major cause of infection (308 case-times, 76.2%), among which, Staphylococci epidermidis was the leading causative pathogen (115 cases, 37.3%), followed by coagulase-negative Staphylococci (76 cases, 24.6%), and Staphylococcus aureus (52 cases, 16.9%); bacteria were detected in 96 case-times, accounting for 23.8% and occupying the secondary position. The overall indicator levels of CSF with G- pathogen were higher than those with G+bacteria, among which CSF with G- bacteria pathogen protein content [mg/L 1 795 (1 999) vs. 1 068 (1 251)], white blood cell (WBC) count [×106/L 1 069.5 (5 295.8) vs. 446.5 (1 689.3)], proportion of neutrophils [N 0.877 (0.218) vs. 0.788 (0.416)] were obviously higher than those in CSF with G+bacteria pathogen, however, glucose (Glu) concentration level was lower than that in CSF with positive G- bacteria [mmol/L 1.7 (2.5) vs. 2.6 (1.7), P < 0.05]. Simultaneously, it was also found that in culture G- bacteria appeared slightly later than G+bacteria [days 9.0 (10.0) vs. 8.0 (7.0)], Acinetobacter and other negative bacteria being obvious, but as a whole there was no statistical significant difference. Conclusions G+bacteria are the major pathogens for intracranial infections patients after neurosurgery, and its time of isolation in bacterial culture has a tendency of being earlier than that of G- bacteria; in the comparisons between biochemical and routine results of CSF with positive G- bacteria and with positive G+bacteria, there are protein, glucose, WBC and N levels having statistical significant differences, suggesting that these indicators have potential values to differentiate these two kinds of bacteria.