Introduction: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunts carry CSF to other body parts for absorption in cases of hydrocephalus. However, infections seen in these systems are serious problems that cause the shunt to fail and cause high mortality. The study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory findings of cases with a ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) due to hydrocephalus and who developed shunt infection and to determine the antibiotic resistance of microorganisms that cause shunt infection.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in Dicle University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child Health and Diseases, Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, between January 2014 and November 2016. Eighty-one cases of VPS infection, aged between 0 and 18, regardless of gender, were analyzed retrospectively.
Results: Gram-positive and negative microorganisms were grown in the CSF culture in 64.1% and 35.9% of patients. The most commonly grown gram-positive microorganism was coagulase-negative staphylococcus, while the most commonly grown gram-negative microorganism was Acinetobacter sp. The most effective antibiotics against gram-positive bacteria were vancomycin, teicoplanin, and linezolid. The most effective antibiotics against gram-negative bacteria were colimycin, amikacin, ceftazidime, and meropenem. 21% of the cases died.
Conclusion: If VPS infections are not treated correctly, especially in childhood, they progress to severe mortality and morbidity. Therefore, first of all, measures should be taken to prevent the formation of shunt infections, and we believe that long-term hospitalization rates and high treatment costs can be avoided by choosing appropriate and correct antibiotic regimens to prevent increasing antibiotic resistance.
Key words: Antibiotic resistance, shunt infection, mortality, ventriculoperitoneal shunt
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