Abdominal wound sepsis associated with gynaecological surgery at King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban.
OBJECTIVE
To establish the prevalence of postoperative wound infection in major gynaecological surgery.


METHODS
King Edward VIII Hospital (KEH), a large urban referral hospital for the province of KwaZulu-Natal, serving an underprivileged population.


METHODS
A prospective study of postoperative wound sepsis in 270 patients who had had emergency and elective laparotomies. Data for each patient were obtained pre-operatively and during the postoperative period.


RESULTS
The prevalence of surgical wound sepsis was 11.9%. The wound sepsis rate in emergency, elective and semi-elective cases was 14.6%, 6.5% and 4% respectively. Twenty-three per cent of the patients were HIV-infected, and this group had a wound sepsis rate of 28.6% compared with 6.8% in HIV-negative cases (P = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Surgical wound sepsis in major gynaecological surgery is common at KEH. HIV infection is associated with a high rate of wound sepsis.
Jjuuko
G
G
Medical Research Council/University of Natal Pregnancy Hypertension Research Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Nelson R Mandela Medical School, University of Natal, Durban.
Moodley
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003906:Developing Countries; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D013509:Gynecologic Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D013019:South Africa; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*