Negative pressure wound therapy for the management of deep brain stimulation-related surgical site infections: A retrospective case series

The management of deep brain stimulation (DBS)-related surgical site infection (SSI) is challenging. This article aimed to report the efficacy of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in treating DBS-related SSI while preserving all DBS devices. As a retrospective case series in a single center, localized DBS-related SSI was treated with complete debridement and NPWT, with preserving all DBS devices. Successful infection control was defined as no clinical or microbiological evidence of recurrent infection 3 months after NPWT. Five patients (three females, two males, median age: 64 years) received NPWT for their DBS-related SSI. The infection was located in the chest, parietal, and retroauricular areas. Only one patient had the extension wires removed due to the heavy contamination, while no DBS devices were removed in the other patients. All patients showed successful infection control without any remarkable side effects 3 months after debridement and NPWT. These findings suggest that NPWT may effectively promote wound healing with a high probability of preserving all DBS devices in DBS-related SSI.