Distinguishing risk factors for SSIs after pancreatic surgery

Editor's Note

Reporting of surgical site infections (SSIs) after pancreatic surgery should distinguish between superficial and organ-space infections, which will require different preventative strategies, this study finds.

Results showed that risk factors for superficial and organ-space SSIs after pancreatic surgery differed. Preoperative biliary stenting was an independent risk factor for superficial SSIs.

Soft gland texture was an independent risk factor for superficial SSIs but was more strongly and significantly associated with organ-space SSIs. Organ/space SSIs also appeared to be related to pancreatic fistulae, which are not modifiable.

SSIs are increasingly uses as a quality metric, and reporting SSIs after pancreatic surgery as a single, overall rate may be misleading, the authors say.

Question Can risk factors for surgical site infections after pancreatic surgery be modified? Findings In a retrospective analysis of the prospectively maintained National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Hepatopancreaticobiliary Collaborative database, risk factors for superficial and organ-space surgical site infections after pancreatic surgery were found to differ.