Prevention of Post-operative Wound Infection and Sepsis in Abdominal Surgery

Background and Objectives: Wound infection in abdominal surgery is a common surgical complication that an abdominal surgeon comes across in his day to day career. Even today in the modern antibiotic era, the incidence of wound infection has not significantly come down. Here is an attempt to made to enlighten the various causes of wound infection in each abdominal procedures, the skill full ways of preventive measures to eradicate them, the bacteriology, pathophysiology, and epidemiology are reviewed and preventive aspects discussed in detail. Materials and Methods: Out of 2000 cases operated for abdominal problems, we have taken 350 patients in a randomized fashion for study. Factors were tabulated and statistically analyzed to study their contribution. Results: In our study, the overall wound infection rate was 12.5%. Emergency cases had more infection than elective. Infection rate was higher if the age is >60 years. The wound infection rate is high up to 30% with the patient who stayed more than 1 month. Increased infection rate seen in skin preparation done more than 6 h before surgery. Conclusion: Prevention of wound infection and sepsis in abdominal surgery shortens the hospital stay, minimize the expenditure, and avoids the morbidity and mortality. It is a joint responsibility of the surgical team paramedical staff, patient, and also the bacteriologists.