Progress in the prevention of surgical site infection

The present review summarizes some of the key papers on the prevention of surgical site infections (SSI) published in 2008.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence published guidelines on the prevention and management of SSI. These guidelines follow a similar format to those published previously. There are, however, some important differences to previous recommendations and these are outlined in this current article. Other publications have provided additional evidence that suggests certain antiseptic agents are more efficacious than others for surgical hand antisepsis. Staphylococcus aureus decolonization has also been studied and noted to be of benefit for the prevention of SSI. Other research studies have focused on patient homeostasis, including the use of supplemental perioperative oxygen, which has resulted in mixed findings. Finally, the use of surveillance to evaluate the efficacy of 'care bundles' has been reported, which brings together many different approaches for the prevention of SSI.

Several evaluations of pre, peri and postoperative strategies for the prevention of SSI have been published in 2008, some of which have raised some fundamental questions.