Risk factors for surgical site infection in pediatric posterior fossa tumors

Purpose Posterior fossa tumors are the most frequent pediatric solid tumor. Its main treatment is a surgical resection. Being a frequent procedure does not mean that it is exempt from complications, such as surgical site infections (SSI). The main objective of this paper is to study the risk factors associated with SSI following a resection of posterior fossa tumors in a purely pediatric population. Methods A retrospective case–control study including all posterior fossa tumor surgeries performed at our hospital between January 2014 and December 2019 was conducted. All patients with a diagnosis of a postoperative SSI have been included as cases, and those who had surgery and no infectious complications have been considered as controls. Results When analyzing risk factors, we have found that patients with ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) ( p = 0.03) or external ventricular drainage (EVD) ( p = 0.005) placement had a greater chance of presenting a postoperative surgical site infection. Prolonged operative time ( p