Managing Surgical Site Infection

摘要

Surgical site infection (SSI) is justifiably one of the most dreaded complications of orthopedic surgical treatment; it has the potential to turn a successful intervention into a lifelong problem for the patient. The morbidity associated with SSI is significant, including pain, poor function, increased hospitalization, lengthy or incomplete recovery, and high rates of reop-erations. In addition, the costs and burden to the health care system are substantial, with estimates of the cost of treating an infection at up to 3 times the cost of the index procedure. In an era of increasing scarcity of health care resources, the epidemic of perioperative infection, with its attendant impact on both patient and population health, has resulted in increased attention being devoted to studying methods to improve both prevention and treatment of this condition.