[Surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance]

Surgical site infections (SSI) are major complications after surgery. SSI leads to the longer hospital stay, higher costs and patients' dissatisfaction to the surgical treatment. SSI surveillance is not only an activity to investigate the incidence and causes of SSI but also an infection control activity to reduce SSI rates. The Japanese Society of Environmental Infections established the Japanese nosocomial infection surveillance UNIS) system and initiated SSI surveillance in Japan in 1999. The Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare started a nation-wide SSI surveillance program in July 2002, and the SSI surveillance study group was founded in October 2002 to support the Ministry's SSI surveillance and to make activities aiming at a further spread and quality enhancement of SSI surveillance in Japan. Up to December 2004, 31, 436 cases from 50 institutions have been registered. SSI occurred in 2,346 cases (7.7%). With regard to surgical procedures, SSI rates are far much higher in gastrointestinal surgery than in other procedures. It is important for all Japanese surgeons to continue highly precise SSI surveillance and make efforts to reduce SSI rates, to provide safe medical practice of high-quality and adequate costs.