Pediatric surgical site and soft tissue infections

The purpose of this review is to provide background and a concise set of definitions for pediatric surgical site and wound infections.

The information discussed in this report is derived from a literature review and discussion at an international consensus conference on pediatric sepsis.

There is a paucity of literature on pediatric surgical site and wound infection definitions. Excluding burn wounds, surgical site and wound infections rarely lead to overwhelming sepsis. Nevertheless, surgical site or wound infections including pressure ulcers can lead to significant morbidity in the pediatric critical care setting.

Although surgical site and wound infections rarely lead to intensive care unit admissions, definitions are still valuable for stratifying potential candidates for sepsis trials.