Effects of Operating Room Size on Surgical Site Infection Following Lumbar Fusion Surgery

Background: Surgical site infections (SSIs) represent a devastating complication after spine surgery. Many factors have been identified, but the influence of operating room (OR) size on infection rate has not been assessed.

Methods: Two thousand five hundred and twenty-three patients who underwent open lumbar spine fusion at a single institution between 2010 and 2016 were included. Patients were dichotomized into large versus small groups based on OR volume. Bivariate logistic regression and a final multivariate model following a multicollinearity check were used to calculate odds of infection for all variables.

Results: A total of 63 patients (2.5%) developed SSIs with 46 (73%) in the larger OR group and 17 (27%) in the smaller OR group. The rate of SSIs in larger ORs was 3.02% compared with 1.81% in smaller ORs. Significant parameters impacting SSI in bivariate analysis included an earlier year of surgery, BMI > 30, more comorbidities, more levels decompressed and fused, smoking, and larger OR volumes. Multivariate analysis identified BMI > 30, Elixhauser scores, smoking, and increasing levels decompressed as significant predictors. Topical vancomycin was found to significantly decrease rate of infection in both analyses.

Conclusions: OR size (large versus small) was ultimately not a significant predictor of infection related to rates of SSIs, although it did show a clinical trend toward significance, suggesting association. Future prospective analysis is warranted.

Level of evidence: 3.