Papers of the Week

To assess the effects of diabetes mellitus (DM) and related variables on surgical site infection (SSI) risk in neuromodulation. This retrospective study followed patients who underwent neuromodulation procedures for at least 9 months to identify postoperative infections. Demographics, clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes were compared. Of 195 cases included, 5 (2.6%) resulted in SSIs. Median HbA1c was significantly higher for the cases with SSIs (8.2 vs 5.6%; p = 0.0044). The rate of SSI was significantly higher among patients with DM (17.9 vs 0%; p = 0.0005), HbA1c≥7% (37.5 vs 0%; p = 0.0009), and perioperative glucose ≥200 mg/dl (40 vs 2.3%; p = 0.0101). DM, elevated HbA1c and perioperative hyperglycemia may all contribute to increased risk of SSIs with neuromodulation procedures.