Surgical site infections in orthopedic implant surgery and its risk factors: A prospective study in teaching hospital

Abstract

Background: Surgical site infections (SSI) in orthopaedic implant surgery is devasting complication range from 1-2% to 22%. It leads to increase case cost, prolongs antibiotic use/abuse, increases morbidity and rehabilitation. Method: This prospective study was conducted on 248 patients with closed fracture cases undergoing clean and elective orthopaedic implant surgeries admitted at Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences, Mandya (Karnataka), India between october-2016 to march-2017. Results: The surgical site infection was diagnosed in 11 (4.435%) patients within 3 months after surgery. Staphylococcus aureus was most common infective organism islolated in 54.54% cases. On data analysis SSI was significantly associated with increasing age, diabetes mellitus, smoking and anemia. Conclusion: Incidence of SSI in implants surgeries are quite high, proper measure are needed to control it. Introduction Surgical site infection (SSI) is defined as microbial contamination of the surgical wound within 30 days of an operation or within 1 year after surgery if an implant is placed in a patient [1] . In orthopedics, the surgical site infection after implant surgery is a disaster both for the patient and surgeon [1] . SSI's are one of the most common nosocomial infections besides pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and bloodstream infections [2] . SSI is the second or third most frequent infection among surgical patients. It is responsible for approximately 17% of all healthcare-related infections [3] . Surgical site infections cause increased morbidity, mortality, extended hospital in-patient stays, and economic burden to the hospital resources [4] . SSI's related to orthopedic procedures represents a severe and catastrophic complication for patients, surgeons and hospital institutions, as an infection can extent the patient's hospitalization time by up to two weeks, double re-hospitalization rates, increase care costs by more than 300%, besides causing important physical limitations that significantly reduce patients quality of life after the surgery [3]