Prospective study of antibiotic protocols for managing surgical site infections in children.
OBJECTIVE
We adopted antibiotic (Ab) protocols for managing surgical site infections in children and assessed their effectiveness.


METHODS
We used our protocols on 1313 children between 2004 and 2005. All wounds were monitored for 30 days and classified as clean, clean-contaminated, contaminated, or dirty-infected. Infections were defined as superficial, deep, or organ/space. A retrospective study involving 721 children who had surgery in 2003 was also performed. Chi2 statistical analysis was performed.


RESULTS
Postprotocol, all Abs were administered accurately by anesthesiologists and infections developed in only 22 cases (1.7%): 0.2% (clean), 2.6% (clean-contaminated), 5.8% (contaminated), and 20.8% (dirty-infected), respectively; 21 were superficial or deep and 1 was organ/space. Age at surgery and sex did not influence incidence, neither did length of surgery for clean-contaminated, contaminated, and dirty-infected wounds; clean wounds were excluded because all surgery was minor. Overall, incidence of infections was 1.2% for elective surgery and 4.5% for emergency surgery (P < .01). Preprotocol, only 67% had Ab and infections developed in 27 cases (3.7%), which is significantly higher than in postprotocol (P < .01).


CONCLUSIONS
Accurate administration of Ab and careful supervision by an infection control team appear to be effective for preventing wound infections in children.
Ichikawa
Satoko
S
Department of Pediatric General and Urogenital Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
Ishihara
Mihoko
M
Okazaki
Tadaharu
T
Warabi
Kengo
K
Kato
Yoshifumi
Y
Hori
Satoshi
S
Lane
Geoffrey J
GJ
Hiramatsu
Keiichi
K
Inada
Eiichi
E
Kobayashi
Hiroyuki
H
Yamataka
Atsuyuki
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007430:Intraoperative Care; D008297:Male; D011292:Premedication; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D014041:Tokyo / Q000453:epidemiology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents