Surgical Site Infection: Recognizing the Early Signs of Infections

Discussion A surgical site infection (SSI) is a postoperative complication that manifests in a surgical wound after a patient has undergone a surgical proce-dure.They are considered health care-associated infections (HAIs) and estimated to make up 20% of all HAIs.1 An infection must have specific characteristics to be diagnosed as an SSI: it must occur within 30 days after the surgery or within 1 year if the surgery involved an implant and an organ or space infection occurs; the wound must only involve skin, subcutaneous tissues, deep tissue, or distant organs; and the wound must display purulent drainage from the site or isolated organisms.2 An abscess that forms around a suture may seem alarming, but it is not classified as an SSI.1'2 Etiology Surgical site infections are caused by contamination of the wound by a microorganism that may be introduced to the site preoperatively, intraoperatively, or postoperatively. Risk Factors Numerous patient- and procedure-related factors can increase an individual's risk for developing an SSI (Table 1).4~8 Patient factors include sex, comorbidities, weight, and age. A study from a hospital in Greece showed that SSIs are more common in procedures that take longer than 90 minutes to complete (P