Seroprevalence of Viral Infection in Neurotrauma Patients Who Underwent Emergent Surgical Intervention

Nam, Kyoung Hyup; Choi, Hyuk Jin; Lee, Jae Il; Ko, Jun Kyeung; Han, In Ho; Cho, Won Ho

Abstract

PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to estimate the seropositive prevalence of blood-borne infection in neurotrauma patients who underwent emergent surgical intervention, especially patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), syphilis and human immunodefIciency virus (HIV).
METHODS
A retrospective review identified 559 patients with traumatic brain injury and spinal trauma who underwent emergent surgery between 2007 and 2014. We reviewed the medical records and extracted data, including age, sex, location of lesion, result of serologic tests, time interval of admission and surgery after presenting to emergency room. Serologic tests for HBV, HCV, syphilis and HIV were performed and analyzed to determine whether the seropositive results were confirmed by the surgeon before surgery.
RESULTS
The majority of the patients were male (74.6%), and the mean age was 55.4+/-20.2 years. Most patients underwent surgery due to traumatic brain injury (90.0%). Fifty-three patients (10.0%) showed a positive result on at least one serologic test. Seropositive rates according to pathogens were 0.5% for syphilis, 5.2% for HBV and 3.9% for HCV. No positive results were noted on the serologic tests for HIV. HBV in patients with spinal cord injury and age from 40 to 49 years were associated with high serologic positive rate, and that result was statistically significant. However, no statistically significant differences were found in the other variables. Serologic results could not confirmed before surgery in the majority of the cases (62.1%), and 10.4% of these patients showed seropositive results.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study emphasize the importance of taking precautions and conducting rapid serologic testing in preventing the occupational transmission of blood-borne viruses to health-care workers.