A Preliminary Study on Bacteriological Infections of Surgical Wounds

Surgical wound infections, better termed as Surgical Site Infections, are common and cannot be completely eliminated. But a reduction in the infection rate could have significant benefits like reduction in the postoperative morbidity and mortality, wastage of health care resources and finances. The general causes for increased predisposition to wound infections are pre-existing illness, prolonged operating time, the wound class and wound contamination. Technical problems with the operation, particularly bleeding, the amount of devitalized tissue generated, and the need for drains within the wound determine the risk of infection along with patient's general metabolic status which includes obesity and diabetes. Rigorous wound surveillance, a technically perfect operation along with the judicious use of prophylactic antibiotics would greatly aid in attaining minimum wound infection in any type of surgery.