Quantitative bacteriology of closed-suction wound drainage in contaminated surgery

This study was designed to evaluate the predictive value of quantitative bacteriology of closed-suction postoperative wound drainage in identifying the patient likely to develop wound infection as well as its subsequent flora. Forty-one patients undergoing major cancer surgery of the head and neck were studied. Postoperatively, closed-suction wound drainage was cultured, and anaerobic and aerobic bacterial isolates were quantitated. The wound infection rate was 20% (8/41). No trend toward increased rate of wound infection with increased numbers of bacteria colonizing the wound was observed. Additionally, there was no consistent correlation between species of bacteria isolated from closed-suction wound drainage and recovery from subsequent wound infection. Quantitative bacteriology of closed-suction wound drainage after contaminated head and neck cancer surgery does not accurately predict which patients were likely to become infected, or the probable bacteriology of subsequent wound infection.