STUDY OF EFFICACY OF WOUND EDGE PROTECTORS IN OPEN ABDOMINAL SURGERY TO REDUCE SURGICAL SITE INFECTIONS

Abstract

Surgical site infections are one of the most common postoperative complications. They cause increased morbidity and results in an increased burden on the health care system. Intraoperative period bears the highest risk of infection of incised wound, leading to surgical site infection later. A wound edge protector is a device which decreases such infection of the surgical wound, thereby reducing the frequency of surgical site infection. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To estimate the incidence of surgical site infection in open abdominal surgeries performed with and without wound edge protector and to assess the efficacy of wound edge protector in reducing the surgical site infections. METHODS This present study included 92 patients who underwent open abdominal surgeries from November-2018 to June-2020 in Department of General Surgery, R L Jalappa Hospital. We divided the patients into two groups, each including 46 patients, using an even-odd method to include similar type of cases with respect to extent of contamination. Even group will undergo surgery with wound edge protector and Odd group will undergo surgery without wound edge protector. The Surgical site infections (SSI) incidence was measured in both groups to assess the efficacy of wound edge protectors in reducing surgical site infections xii RESULTS There was no difference which is statistically significant between both groups concerning age, sex, diagnosis, type of incision and extent of contamination. The rate of SSI in even group with wound edge protector is 8.7% and in the other group is 26.1%. The incidence of SSI is significantly low in subjects who undertook surgery with wound edge protector, P value 0.028. The difference is more pronounced in the dirty type of abdominal surgeries, P value 0.033. CONCLUSION The present study showed that wound edge protectors are efficacious in reducing the affliction of surgical site infections in open abdominal surgeries, the effect more pronounced in dirty abdominal surgeries. Thus, the use of wound edge protector can be considered for routine use in open abdominal surgeries.