The Current Analysis of the Risk Factors for Bone Graft Infection after Cranioplasty

Cranioplasty is a surgical procedure that repairs irregularity or imperfection of skull after craniectomy for several causes such as traumatic or vascular insults. This is done to restore cerebral protection, improve cosmesis, normalize intracranial pressure, and provide an intact skull vault. After cranioplasty, delayed infection and bone resorption are two common complications and the estimated incidence of bone graft infection is ranging from 1% to 15.9% depending on the presence of certain risk factors. Infection may be associated with increased morbidity because of the need for removal of the flap, a course of long-term intravenous antibiotics, and replacement at a later time. Therefore, prevention for infection is thought to be most important. The risk factors of the cranioplasty infection may differ according to the authors and patients populations and there are many previous analyses of the factors influencing bone graft infection. But we need to pay attention to this matter as the current medical environment is ever-changing and the influencing risk factors are also expected to be changed. Therefore, we analyzed the cranioplasties done in recent 8 years and tried to identify the correlation between the infection and the predictive factors.