Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke, VA.
Musculoskeletal Education and Research Center, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Institute for Orthopaedics & Neurosciences, Carilion Clinic, Roanoke, VA.
J Hand Surg Am. 2024 Aug;49(8):766-771. doi: 10.1016/j.jhsa.2023.12.014. Epub 2024 Feb 1.
Considerable variation exists in the literature on published rates of surgical site infection (SSI) after carpal tunnel release, ranging over 20-fold, from 0.28% to 6.4%. The reason for this variability is unknown.
A retrospective review was conducted on 748 open carpal tunnel releases performed under wide-awake local anesthetic no tourniquet in an in-office procedure room. The following three different definitions of infection were used for analysis: definition A: prescription of an oral antibiotic; Definition B: SSI definition by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Definition C: infection that required reoperation.
Infection rate by definition A was 8.9% (67/748), by definition B was 2.3% (17/748), and by definition C was 0.4% (3/748), resulting in a 22-fold range.
The infection rate after carpal tunnel release is heavily influenced by the definition of SSI. The definition of SSI needs to be considered when making comparisons, either in research or quality assurance/quality improvement applications.
When analyzing SSI rates, the exact definition of infection must be ascertained to accurately compare an individual's practice or institutional data to the literature.
在腕管松解术后手术部位感染（SSI）的文献中，发表的发生率存在很大差异，范围从 20 倍，从 0.28%到 6.4%。这种变异性的原因尚不清楚。
对 748 例在局麻无止血带的清醒状态下于门诊手术室进行的开放式腕管松解术进行回顾性分析。分析采用了以下三种不同的感染定义：定义 A：口服抗生素处方；定义 B：疾病控制和预防中心的 SSI 定义；定义 C：需要再次手术的感染。
按定义 A 感染率为 8.9%（67/748），按定义 B 为 2.3%（17/748），按定义 C 为 0.4%（3/748），范围为 22 倍。
腕管松解术后的感染率受 SSI 定义的影响很大。在进行研究或质量保证/质量改进应用时，需要考虑 SSI 的定义，以便进行比较。
在分析 SSI 发生率时，必须确定感染的确切定义，以便准确比较个人的实践或机构数据与文献。
