Incidence of surgical infection and risk factors in colorectal surgery - A prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to measure the incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) and identify risk factors, in patients undergoing elective surgery of the colon and rectum.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A prospective cohort study was performed from January 2017 to December 2018.

RESULTS

A total of 130 patients were studied. The cumulative incidence of SSI was 12.3%. The 56.25% were superficial wound infections and the 31.25%, organ-space infection. The risk factors significantly associated with SSI were the non-administration of pre-operative oral nutrition, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, symptomatic state at the diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC), and ≥ 2 altered nutritional biochemical parameters at diagnosis. After multivariate , risk factors associated with SSI were: non-administration of preoperative enteral nutrition (odds ratio [OR] = 0.27; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.07-1.0), DM (OR = 3.0; 95% CI: 0.9-9.9), the heart disease (OR = 4.6; 95% CI: 1.1-18.6), and laparoscopic surgery (OR = 0.28; 95% CI: 0.08-0.97). The average stay was higher in patients with a diagnosis of SSI (11.9 vs. 9.2 days).

CONCLUSIONS

Independent risk factors for SSI in CRC were the non-administration of pre-operative enteral nutrition, the existence of heart disease, and open surgery.