Postoperative Infection and Revision Surgery Rates in Foot and Ankle Surgery Without Routine Prescription of...

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Infectious Disease Control

Background:

• Surgical site infections (SSIs) increase patient morbidity and healthcare costs.
• Limited evidence exists on postoperative antibiotic prophylaxis in foot and ankle surgery.
• This study addresses the gap in understanding SSI rates in outpatient foot and ankle procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the incidence of SSIs in outpatient foot and ankle surgery.
• To evaluate revision surgery rates for SSIs in this patient group.
• To identify risk factors associated with SSIs in patients not receiving postoperative antibiotics.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of 1517 outpatient foot and ankle surgeries.
• Data collected from electronic medical records at a tertiary referral academic center.
• Analysis included SSI incidence, revision rates, and risk factor identification with a median 6-month follow-up.

Main Results:

• A 2.9% incidence of postoperative infection was observed.
• 0.9% of patients required revision surgery.
• Diabetes and increasing age were significant risk factors for postoperative infection.

Conclusions:

• Low rates of postoperative infection and revision surgery were achieved without routine prophylactic antibiotics.
• Routine postoperative antibiotics may not be necessary for all outpatient foot and ankle surgeries.
• Targeted risk factor management for age and diabetes is crucial for preventing SSIs.