Sayed-Hassan A, et al. - For patients undergoing cochlear implantation, authors assessed the rates of major surgical site infection in those who receive prolonged antibiotic treatment vs those who receive a single perioperative dose of antibiotic prophylaxis. Following cochlear implantation, among those who received prolonged antibiotic treatment, infection was rare, was less common, and was less likely to occur in adults than in children.

Methods

• Experts conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent cochlear implantation between January 1, 2011 and July 8, 2015, with 1 to 3 years of postoperative follow-up.
• In this multicenter study at eight French university centers, they included 1,180 patients (509 children and 671 adults) who had cochlear implantation during this time.
• Prolonged antibiotic treatment vs single-dose antibiotic prophylaxis was included in the interventions.
• Main outcomes and measures included major infection and explantation.

Results

• As per data, among 1,180 patients (509 children [51.7% female] with a mean [SD] age of 4.6 [3.8] years and 671 adults [54.9% female] with a mean [SD] age of 54.8 [17.0] years), a major infection developed in 12 patients (1.0%), with 4 infections occurring in the prolonged antibiotic treatment group and 8 infections occurring in the antibiotic prophylaxis group (odds ratio, 2.45; 95% CI, 0.73-8.17).
• Results demonstrated a greater likelihood for the children (9 of 509 [1.8%]) to develop infection than adults (3 of 671 [0.4%]).
• Findings suggested that among children, the prolonged antibiotic group (n=344) presented with 4 infections, and in the antibiotic prophylaxis group, 5 infections occurred (n=158) (odds ratio, 2.78; 95% CI, 0.74-10.49).
• Among adults, 3 infections were seen in the antibiotic prophylaxis group (n=365), whereas in the prolonged antibiotic treatment group (n=290), no infections occurred.