Impact of surgical approach on development of surgical-site infection following internal mammary-artery, coronary-artery bypass graft procedures

Data were electronically abstracted from hospital data records including demographics, comorbidities, graft number, surgical approach, surgeon, discharge location, and microbiological culture reports. Discussion In our study, the incidence of deep incisional and organ-space SSI following CABG with at least 1 IMA was 1.2%, which is similar to the range of 1%–4% reported in the literature.2–8 Potential patient risk factors for SSI were diabetes,3,4,6–8 female sex,3,4,7,8 older age,6 and obesity,3,4,6–8 matching findings from other studies. Because surgical approach and number of IMA vessels are potentially modifiable factors, even in patients with more traditional risk factors for SSI, additional research is needed to validate the significance of these findings.