[Neurosurgery under strict asepsis. Effect of the surgical isolator on the level of infections after valve shunts for hydrocephalus].

The authors report on two groups of 75 shunts for hydrocephalus. Each group includes both cases in which the shunt was implanted for the first time and cases in which the repair of a former shunt was necessary either for mechanical or infectious complications. The operations within the first group were performed with traditional techniques; those of the second group were carried out during the same period of time and by the same team, but with the use of a surgical isolator. The overall rate of early infections was greatly reduced in the second group. Careful analysis of the infections which still occured with the surgical isolator indicated that they were related to the reappearance of a preoperative infection or to secondary contamination through post-operative cutaneous complication. In this second group using the surgical isolator, no contamination occured during the operation itself.