International Multicenter Survey of Perioperative Management of External Ventricular Drains: Results of the EVD Aware Study

Introduction: The perioperative management of patients with external ventricular drains (EVDs) is not well defined, and adherence to published management guidelines unknown. This study investigates practice, patterns, and variability in the perioperative management of patients with EVDs. Methods: A 31-question survey was sent to 1830 anesthesiologists from 27 institutions in North America, Europe, and Asia. A perioperative EVD Guideline Adherence Score was calculated for the preoperative, transport and intraoperative periods. Differences in management practices between neuroanesthesiologists and non-neuroanesthesiologists, and factors affecting EVD guideline adherence, were examined using bivariate significance tests and linear regression. Results: Among a sample of 599 anesthesiologists (survey response rate, 32.7%), compared with non-neuroanesthesiologists, neuroanesthesiologists were more likely to include baseline neurological examination (P=0.023), hourly cerebrospinal fluid output (P=0.006) and color (P

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