Intraventricular and lumbar intrathecal administration of antibiotics in postneurosurgical patients with meningitis and/or ventriculitis in a serious clinical state

Object To date, reports on the clinical efficacy of intraventricularly and intrathecally administered antibiotics for the treatment of neurosurgical ventriculitis and meningitis in adults are limited. The authors aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the intraventricular (IVT) and lumbar intrathecal (IT) administration of antibiotics in critically ill neurosurgical patients. Methods Thirty-four postneurosurgical patients with meningitis and ventriculitis were studied. Intraventricular/lumbar intrathecal antibiotics were administered due to positive CSF cultures persisting despite the use of intravenous antibiotics. The time period until CSF sterilization, changes in clinical state, and efficacy of different routes of antibiotic administration were evaluated. Results The mean time necessary to obtain CSF sterilization was 2.9 ± 2.7 days (range 1–12 days). The CSF cultures became negative within 24 hours after the administration of IVT/IT antibiotics in 17 patients (50%) and up to 48 hours in a furth...