[Postoperative infection control in patients with hepatic, biliary tract, and pancreatic cancers]

Postoperative infection occurs more frequently in patients with malignant disease than in patients with benign disease. Postoperative infection control in patients with hepatic cancer, biliary tract cancer and pancreatic cancer is studied. Although in patients with jaundice due to malignancy the rate of positive bacterial culture of the bile collected at the time of PTCD was low, the rate of positive bile culture increased after 10 to 14 days of PTCD. The predominant strain was Enterococcus spp., followed by Klebsiella spp., Enterobacter spp. and E. coli in that order. These bacteria isolated from the bile were considered to be causative organisms of postoperative infection. Prophylactic antibiotics after the operation for jaundice due to malignancy should be chosen based on the results of bile culture. In patients undergoing hepatectomy, which is considered to be an aseptic operation, gram positive cocci such as S. aureus was the most frequently encountered organism. On the other hand, in patients undergoing hepatectomy and intestinal anastomosis, enteric bacteria were frequently isolated from the infectious foci. In this study there were 6 cases of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) postoperative infection, 3 cases after pancreatoduodenectomy, and 3 cases after hepatectomy. Even after an aseptic operation, postoperative MRSA infection is likely to occur in patients undergoing a more invasive operation, so hospital infection control should be again emphasized.