Infections after plastic procedures: incidences, etiologies, risk factors, and antibiotic prophylaxis.
BACKGROUND
Through a review of the English literature, this study aimed to assess the incidence, etiology, risk factors, and preventive measures for postoperative infections occurring after plastic surgery operations.


METHODS
All studies describing the occurrence of infections after plastic surgery procedures including case reports, prospective trials, and retrospective series were selected.


RESULTS
The 85 articles analyzed showed that incidences differ greatly among procedures and seem to be influenced by different and specific risk factors for each operation. Etiologic agents are primarily bacteria, although mycobacteria, virus, and fungi also have been described. No agreement exists on the use of antibiotic prophylaxis, except for abdominoplasties, because few specific prospective trials are present in the literature.


CONCLUSIONS
Infections remain an important problem in plastic surgery with different points that still need to be clarified. Hopefully, in the future prospective randomized trials will definitively address this issue in order to provide plastic surgeons with clear and unbiased guidelines on its prevention and management.
Gravante
G
G
Department of General Surgery, University of Tor Vergata in Rome, Ciampino (Roma) 00043, Italy. ggravante@hotmail.com
Caruso
R
R
Araco
A
A
Cervelli
V
V
D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery; D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis / Q000379:methods*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D004322:Drainage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015187:Lipectomy; D008297:Male; D016462:Mammaplasty; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D015995:Prevalence; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D014945:Wound Healing