Continuous follow-up of surgical site infections for 30 days after colorectal surgery

Background Surgical site infection (SSI) prolongs hospital stay, increases medical costs, and occasionally leads to mortality. Our goal was to clarify the differences in SSI incidence between our own data and the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) data. Methods From January 2003 to December 2006, we prospectively collected surveillance data from patients who were undergoing elective colorectal resection at the Mie University Graduate School of Medicine. Results Three hundred fifty-five elective colorectal resections (144 colon surgeries, 211 rectal surgeries) were included. The median patient age was 57.4 years. SSIs were identified in 60 patients. Cumulative SSI incidence was 16.9%. The average SSI onset was 8.7 days (range = 3-20 days) after operation. Nineteen patients (19/30:31.7%) developed SSI within 6 days of the operation. The incidence of SSI occurring within 6 days after the operation was 5.4%. Conclusion Seventeen percent of SSIs occurred despite the use of perioperative management according to the CDC guidelines. We reported a much higher SSI incidence than that in the NNIS data. However, the SSI incidence within 6 days of surgery was similar to that of the NNIS data. The difference in SSI incidence between our data and that of the NNIS range may result from the different strict surveillance periods.