Table 8.
Descriptive summary of the recorded clincal signs and CSF values
| All patients n = 166 |
No ventriculitis n = 137 |
Ventriculitis confirmed n = 22 |
Ventriculitis not-confirmed n = 7 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fever1, n (%) | 96 (57.8) | 74 (54.0) | 19 (86.4) | 3 (42.9) |
| Leukocytes2,/nL, | 11,000 | 11,000 | 13,000 | 12,000 |
| median (IQR) | (8800, 15,000) | (8400, 14,000) | (11,000, 18,000) | (11,000, 19,000) |
|
1 st CSF examination3, median (IQR) |
||||
| Cell count,/µL | 65 (19, 210) | 72 (22, 250) | 60 (11, 140) | 12 (3.5, 28) |
| CSF/serum Glucose-ratio | 0.60 (0.50, 0.70) | 0.60 (0.40, 0.70) | 0.60 (0.50, 0.70) | 0.65 (0.58, 0.70) |
| Lactate, mmol/L | 3.3 (2.6, 4.4) | 3.3 (2.6, 4.6) | 3.3 (3.0, 4.3) | 3.1 (2.6, 3.4) |
| 2nd CSF examination4, median (IQR) | ||||
| Cell count,/µL | 65 (17, 290) | 56 (12, 170) | 440 (110, 1500) | 84 (40, 100) |
| Corrected cell count,/µL | 54 (14, 180) | 46 (12, 100) | 380 (89, 1300) | 24 (5, 72) |
| CSF/serum Glucose-ratio | 0.50 (0.4, 0.6) | 0.60 (0.5, 0.7) | 0.40 (0.33, 0.50) | 0.50 (0.4, 0.60) |
| Lactate, mmol/L | 3.2 (2.5, 4.4) | 2.9 (2.4, 3.7) | 4.8 (4.4, 6.2) | 3.3 (3.1, 4.3) |
| Pathological | ||||
| 2nd CSF examination, n (%) | 17 (10.2) | 0 (0) | 17 (77.3) | 0 (0) |
| Pathogen detection, n (%) | 14 (8.4) | 0 (0) | 12 (54.5) | 2 (28.6) |
|
3rd CSF examination5, median (IQR) |
||||
| Cell count,/µL | 74 (28, 120) | 74 (32, 120) | 74 (20, 110) | 40 (37, 120) |
| Corrected cell Count,/µL | 49 (16, 89) | 53 (11, 77) | 42 (17, 90) | 40 (37, 54) |
| CSF/serum Glucose-ratio | 0.50 (0.50, 0.60) | 0.60 (0.50, 0.63) | 0.50 (0.50, 0.60) | 0.50 (0.40, 0.50) |
| Lactate, mmol/L | 3.3 (2.8, 3.9) | 3.2 (2.7, 3.8) | 3.6 (3.0, 4.9) | 3.3 (3.1, 3.8) |
Cerebrospinal fluid parameters are descriptively presented across clinically defined categories, including no ventriculitis, confirmed ventriculitis, and retrospectively unconfirmed ventriculitis after follow-up diagnostics. The 2nd CSF analysis is the index examination used to assess an infection; the results are shown in bold
Abbreviations: n number, CSF cerebrospinal fluid
1Fever was defined as an increase in body temperature above 37.8 °C
2Leukocytes in peripheral blood were considered elevated at > 9,000/µl
3 1 st CSF examination: Baseline at EVD insertion
42nd CSF examination: Index CSF Analysis: 2nd CSF examination is performed if there is suspicion of infection or if 1 st CSF examination shows abnormal findings. This serves as a reference point to assess changes in CSF parameters and helps determine the need for further diagnostic or therapeutic steps
5 3rd CSF examination: treatment response or further diagnostic clarification