A STUDY OF SURGICAL SITE INFECTION AFTER GASTROINTESTINAL SURGERY

Abstract

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common complications of abdominal surgery. The goal of this study was to evaluate the surgical site infection in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery.

Methods: This prospective study was conducted on100 patients of all age group and both sexes undergoing gastrointestinal surgery were analysed for surgical site infection.

Result: 42 (21.00%) developed SSI post operatively, 13 patients developed SSI in the period of 3–4 days postoperatively, 21 patients developed the infection in the period of 5–6 days postoperatively, and 8 developed the infection one week after the operation. Most of SSI cases (95.24%) were detected during hospital stay periods and the remaining cases were detected in the post-discharge follow-ups. Superficial SSI was the most common type of SSIs (92.86%).

Conclusion: The results showed a high prevalence of SSI among patients attending the gastrointestinal tract surgical unit and it was associated with the malignant diseases, intraoperative blood loss, intra-operative hypotension, presence of surgical drains, and long operative duration.

Keywords: Infection, Gastrointestinal, Surgery