The Efficacy of Prophylactic Vancomycin in Decreasing Surgical Site Infections in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Patients: A Large Multicenter Cohort Study.

De-An Zhang, Stephen R Stephan, Robert H Cho, Marilan Luong, Evan D Nigh, Shriners Spine, Selina Poon

Abstract readMulticenter StudySystematic Review

In one paragraph

Synthesis in The Iowa orthopaedic journal, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

1citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

Local vancomycin powder reduces surgical site infections and costs in spine surgery: a retrospective cohort study in a public hospital in Santiago, Chile.Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) · 2026
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

De-An ZhangDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shriners for Children Medical Center, Pasadena, California, USA.

Stephen R StephanOch Spine Hospital, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.

Robert H ChoDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shriners for Children Medical Center, Pasadena, California, USA.

Marilan LuongDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shriners for Children Medical Center, Pasadena, California, USA.

Evan D NighDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Shriners SpineDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shriners for Children Medical Center, Pasadena, California, USA.

Selina PoonDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shriners for Children Medical Center, Pasadena, California, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The use of vancomycin powder in spine surgery has been supported in adult populations, however, its efficacy in preventing postoperative surgical site infections in AIS patients is yet to be determined. Methods: A multi-center review was conducted from June 2010 to February 2019, using ICD and CPT codes to identify AIS patients who underwent primary PSF. The patients were divided into two groups: the vancomycin cohort (receiving local vancomycin powder prior to wound closure) and the non-vancomycin cohort. Demographic and surgical data, microbial data, and SSI rates were compared between the two groups. Results: A total of 1,917 AIS patients underwent PSF during the study period. There were no significant differences in age at surgery, BMI, sex, or presence of osteotomy between the two groups. The vancomycin cohort had 65.3% patients (n=1,252) with 0.5% (n=6) diagnosed SSIs, while the non-vancomycin cohort had 34.7% patients (n=665) with 0.8% (n=5) SSIs (p=0.451). Four (66.7%) gram-negative bacteria were isolated in the vancomycin cohort, compared to one (20%) in the non-vancomycin cohort. Conclusion: The results showed no significant reduction in surgical site infections with the use of prophylactic, local vancomycin in AIS patients undergoing PSF (0.5% versus 0.8%). Further studies are needed to fully assess the effectiveness of vancomycin in this population.

Indexed as

Anti-Bacterial AgentsAntibiotic ProphylaxisScoliosisSurgical Wound InfectionVancomycinAdolescentCohort StudiesFemaleHumansMaleRetrospective StudiesAnti-Bacterial AgentsVancomycinadolescent idiopathic scoliosisdeformityprophylactic antibioticssurgical site infectionvancomycin

Identifiers

PMID39811169

PMCPMC11726485

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.