Introduction:
Infections after spinal surgery are sporadic and depend on the patient's condition and the type and extent of surgery. The incidence of surgical site infections in European centers ranges from 0% to 18%. The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of infections in patients after spinal surgery.

Material and methods:
The analysis covered 6067 patients who underwent spinal surgery in the Department of Neuroorthopedics between 2015-2019, taking into account the number of microbiological tests and the number of detected infections, the number of surgical procedures and the rate of SSI infections, the number of readmissions and reoperations, and the use of antibiotics. The analysis was based on retrospective data of patients hospitalized in the analyzed period.

Results:
The number of operated patients remained at a similar level in the analyzed annual periods, from 1136 to 1269 patients, while the infection rate of the operated site ranged from 0,33% to 1,04%, and the percentage of infections was between 0,58% and 3,29 %. In turn, the analysis of reoperations performed due to infection of the operated site in 2018 and 2019 was 0,56% and 0,07%, respectively, which places the center in the leading position in the European ranking. During the analyzed five years, the use of antibiotics was reduced by 2/3.

Conclusions:
The analysis of infections in patients after spinal surgery over a 5-year period showed that the SSI rate did not exceed 1,04%, which is comparable with data from recognized European centers. Infections caused by alarm pathogens have been detected occasionally.