Does Wound Management Technique Impact Surgical Site Infection in Open Emergency Colon Procedures?

Emergency open large bowel procedures have higher rates of intraoperative contamination and increased risk of surgical site infection (SSI) than elective colon surgeries. Several wound management strategies have been proposed, such as vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy and delayed primary closure to improve results. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between wound management technique and SSI and other quality measures.

We performed a retrospective review of patients undergoing open emergency colon surgery from January 2017 to December 2018 by our acute care surgery service. The primary outcome measure was incidence of SSI. Secondary outcome measures included length of stay, reoperation, and 30-day readmission.

A total of 118 patients were included in the study, with a mean age of 62.8 years and mean BMI of 28.8. Overall incidence of SSI was 19.5%. There was no significant difference in incidence of SSI, reoperation, or 30-day readmission when stratifying by wound management technique or procedure type after controlling for confounding variables. Notably, patients managed with VAC therapy had a statistically significant longer average length of stay and higher total postoperative antibiotic days (both P = .001) than other techniques.

We conclude from our data that wound management technique does not seem to influence rate of SSI, but wound management may influence length of stay or antibiotic duration. These findings suggest that there may not be an advantage to alternative methods of wound management in this high-risk population. Further prospective evaluation should be performed to confirm these findings.