Postoperative wound infection in colorectal surgery

Postoperative wound infection is one of common problems in a surgical ward. In our surgical department, from 1988 to December 1992, 254 cases were operated on for colorectal diseases. The indications for these operations were as follows; colorectal carcinoma (191 cases), inflammatory bowel diseases (22 cases), diverticulitis (14 cases), and others (27 cases). Of these 254 cases, 119 were males (46.85%) and 135 were females (53.15%), 211 cases (83.1%) were operated on as elective surgery, 43 cases (16.9%) as emergencies. Of these 254 cases, 36 (14.2%) had postoperative wound infection, 25 cases (11.8%) after elective surgery, and 11 cases (25.6%) postemergency operations. Of these 36 cases, 22 cases (61.11%) were males and 14 cases (38.88%) were females. In our study, postoperative wound infection was mostly noted in patients operated on for colorectal carcinoma (27 cases, 14.1%), as compared with 5 cases operated on for diverticulitis (35.7%), 2 cases for I.B.D. (9.1%) and 2 cases for other indications (7.4%). Most of these wound infections were treated with drainage and frequent dressing while 10 cases received antibiotics.