Enterobacter Infection after Spine Surgery: An Institutional Experience

Background Gram-negative surgical site infections (SSI) following spine surgery are becoming increasingly more common owing to a broad perioperative antibiotic usage targeting gram-positive organisms. Enterobacter species have been reported to be the most common gram-negative bacteria following spine surgery. Methods We queried our institutional database for Enterobacter SSIs after spine surgery at a single institution from 2009–2016. Relevant demographic, clinical, and operative variables were collected. We compared this cohort to patients who had non- Enterobacter SSI during the same period. Results Enterobacter species were isolated in 16 patients (9 males) diagnosed with SSI after undergoing spine surgery. This group represented 0.2% of all spine cases and 14.5% of all spinal SSIs. Seven patients (43.8%) required multiple irrigations and debridements (I&Ds) (range: 2–8), whereas only 17 of 94 patients (18.1%) with non -Enterobacter SSI required multiple I&Ds (range: 2–5, P = 0.043). Those infected with Enterobacter were associated with higher BMI (37.6 ± 12.7 vs. 31.7 ± 8, P  = 0.036), earlier wound dehiscence (14.8 vs. 24.6 days, P  = 0.01), polymicrobial infections (37.5% vs. 10.6%, P  = 0.012 ) , and longer length of stay (18 days [9.5–31.5] vs. 5 days [3–8], P  = 0.01) when compared to non -Enterobacter SSI cohort. At an average of 24.2 months follow-up, all 15 surviving patients were infection free with no further revision surgeries needed. Conclusions Enterobacter SSI cases were associated with higher BMI, earlier wound breakdown, polymicrobial infection and longer length of stay. Nevertheless, with vigilant surveillance and timely I&Ds, these challenging infections can be treated successfully with original implant retention in almost all cases.