Search

Perioperative antibiotic administration can decrease surgical morbidity, shorten hospitalization, while lowering the overall costs attributable to infections. Its use in surgery is widespread and often inappropriate. In this study, the authors evaluate the guidelines for selection and use of prophylactic antibiotics in surgical cancer patients at the Hospital of Cancer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. During 36 non-consecutive months, 1681 cancer patients submitted to surgical procedures were prospectively followed-up by members of the Hospital Infection Control Committee. The overall surgical site infection (SSI) and mortality rates were 17.7% and 4.8% respectively. Prophylactic antibiotics were used in 1262 elective surgeries (75.1%), and their use was not considered to be in accordance with the recommended protocol in 37.6% of the cases. The inadequate antimicrobial prophylaxis resulted in higher incidence of SSI than did prophylaxis in according to the protocol (21.7% vs. 16.4, Relative Risk 1.32; 95% Confidence Internal 1.05-1.67; p0.01). This study calls the attention for the need of a more strict and determined educational program in order to provide mechanisms for an adequate administration of prophylactic antibiotics to patients submitted to high-risk surgeries.

Over a period of 24 months, patients undergoing surgical procedures for head and neck cancer at the Cancer Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil were followed-up prospectively for identification of surgical wound risk factors. A total of 273 patients fulfilling the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NNIS) surgical criteria completed the analysis. The overall wound infection rate was 25.3%. Of the 11 potential risk factors for postoperative wound infections analysed by stepwise multiple logistic regression, the five variables that were independent of each other and highly predictive were patient undergoing an operation classified as either contaminated or infected, a surgery lasting longer than 5 hours, an American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) preoperative assessment score of 4 and 5, age over 50 years and prior radiotherapy. The preoperative stay, antibiotic prophylaxis, surgical drains, preoperative nutritional status, sex and the presence of prior infection did not have an independent significant contribution to the risk of infection. This study reports specific risk factors for head and neck cancer surgeries and contributes substantially to the effectiveness of infection control strategies to prevent their occurrence in this high-risk group of patients.