Surgical Site Infections Common After Breast Surgery

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Breast cancer patients who undergo breast surgery may be at higher risk of developing surgical site infections than women who undergo non-cancer-related breast surgical procedures, according to study findings published in the January issue of the Archives of Surgery.

Margaret A. Olsen, Ph.D., of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues conducted a cost analysis of 949 patients at a tertiary care university hospital, who underwent breast surgery other than breast-conserving surgery between July 1999 and June 2002.

The researchers found that surgical site infections developed in 50 women during the original surgical admission or within one year after surgery, and that the incidence of surgical site infections was highest following mastectomy with immediate implant reconstruction (12.4 percent) and mastectomy with immediate reconstruction using a transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap (6.2 percent) and lowest after breast reduction surgery (1.1 percent). The researchers' adjusted analysis showed a mean cost of $4,091 attributable to surgical site infections after breast surgery.

"Potential interventions to reduce the incidence of surgical site infection in this patient population include strategies to optimize the timing and dosage of prophylactic antibiotics administered before the surgical incision, glucose control in diabetic patients, promotion of meticulous hand hygiene, and strategies to promote timely removal of drains, among others," the authors conclude. "Interventions to reduce the incidence of surgical site infection following breast cancer surgical procedures are essential to reduce not only morbidity in these patient populations but also costs to the individuals and to society."

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