Diagnosis of Ventriculostomy-related infection in patients with different types of hemorrhagic stroke does not benefit from inclusion of plasma derived inflammatory markers: a retrospective descriptive study

Abstract

Diagnosing ventriculostomy-related infections (VRI) remains difficult due to the various existing definitions. In patients with hemorrhagic strokes, the diagnosis of VRI is further complicated by blood contamination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Furthermore, hemorrhagic stroke per se may cause clinical symptoms which can also present in case of VRI (headache, impaired level of consciousness, fever, or nuchal stiffness). The aim of this study was to describe a cohort of patients with hemorrhagic strokes and VRI in respect to the charac Show more