A 14-month study of severe non-wound infectious complications in general surgery.
A retrospective study of serious non-wound infectious complications in general surgery during at 14-month period is reported. A prospective study on wound infections in available from the same institution and period. Septicemia, intraabdominal and intrathoracal abscesses and rare cases of osteomyelitis occurred in 1.3% of all treated patients, whereas postoperative wound infection developed in 7.5% of primarily non-infected patients. Mortality was significantly higher among patients with serious infections than in all patients nursed during the same period. Severe postoperative infectious complications was in fact the third most common cause of death and accounted for 14% of the mortality of the clinic. This rate rises to close to 50% when death from incurable disease is excluded. Septicemia carried a significantly higher mortality rate than intraabdominal abscesses. The risk of a serious infection developing was significantly higher in operations on the small or large intestine than after appendectomies or biliary operations. Gram negative bacteria dominated, especially in cases with a fatal outcome. Contributing factors such as malignancy, preoperative infection or macroscopic peroperative wound soiling, were more common in patients where a serious infectious complication developed postoperatively.
D000038:Abscess / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001062:Appendectomy; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D001662:Biliary Tract Surgical Procedures; D013505:Digestive System Surgical Procedures; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018805:Sepsis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality