Best practice & research. Clinical anaesthesiology
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Surgical wound infection remains a common and serious complication of surgery. Patient factors are a major determinant of wound outcome following surgery. Co-morbidities clearly contribute, but environmental stressors as well the individual response to stress may be equally important. ⋯ Once perfusion is assured, addition of increased inspired oxygen substantially reduces surgical site infection in at risk patients. A greater degree of hyperoxemia, achievable with administration of hyperbaric oxygen, is useful as an adjunct to the treatment of serious soft tissue and bone infections in selected patients. This article will review the basic science underlying these observations, along with the clinical data that support the use of hyperoxia in preventing and treating infections.
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Surgical site infections remain a significant contributor to postoperative morbidity and mortality. It is estimated that 500,000 patients suffer from this complication annually. ⋯ The purpose of this review is to summarize the guiding principles of perioperative antibiotic administration including selection, timing, redosing, and discontinuation. In addition, special topics including likely organisms for classes of surgical procedures, endocarditis prophylaxis, and management strategies for patients with allergies will be reviewed.
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Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol · Sep 2008
ReviewVentilator-associated pneumonia: problems with diagnosis and therapy.
The diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia, VAP, is problematic because of a lack of objective tools that are utilized to make an assessment of bacterial-induced lung injury in a heterogeneous group of hosts. Clinical symptoms and signs are used to identify patients that may have a "lung infection". However, the symptoms and signs can be produced by a myriad of other conditions. ⋯ Exploratory molecular studies utilizing clone libraries and molecular arrays for microbial identification document the inability of culture-based techniques to even identify all the microbes involved in VAP. These molecular studies also offer evidence that oral flora present in the lungs of patients with VAP, suggesting aspiration of oral secretions and/or biofilms on endotracheal tubes, supply the bacteria for VAP. Much more investigation is needed to determine the optimal timing of antibiotic treatment and which diagnostic molecular methods can be utilized in the ICU.
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The perioperative management of immunosuppressed patients remains relatively unsophisticated. Rational management involves understanding the normal immune response to injury as modified by the preexisting or imposed abnormalities that immunosuppressed patients manifest on the basis of their disease and/or treatment. Patients with cancer, infected with human immunodeficiency virus, and having had an organ transplant are extreme examples of disordered immunity and it is important to understand the effects of their diseases and treatments. In the future, however, more appropriate management will require anticipation and appreciation of frequent preoperative immunotherapy, a more complete understanding of the immunological response to anesthesia and surgery, the ability to assess immune reserve and stratify risk within the context of that profile, and a better knowledge of the immunological effect of anesthetic agents.
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Postoperative infection is not only a major source of morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing surgery, but also an important cause of increased hospital stay and resource utilization. Diabetes has been shown in multiple studies to increase the risk of post-surgical infection. ⋯ This paper will review the effects of intra-operative, postoperative, and long-term glycemic control on postoperative infection rates. The mechanisms by which surgery causes hyperglycemia will be reviewed, as well as the immunologic and humeral effects of hyperglycemia.