CLEAN SURGICAL-WOUND INFECTIONS AT AN ONCOLOGY CENTER

Prospective surveillance of 1365 patients was conducted over a 2-year period at an oncology center. The overall clean surgical wound infecti on rate was 8.1%. There was wide variation in the infection rate among surgical procedures in cancer patients, ranging from no infections in incisional biopsy, breast reconstruction, and bone marrow harvesting, to 50% in hemipelvectomy procedures. Multiple logistic regression ana lysis showed that the duration of surgery, use of surgical drains, and the presence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus were risk factors associated with higher rates of infection. The study findings suggest that cancer patients may be at higher risk of clean surgical wound in fections than noncancer patients. [Infect Med 11 (4):280,282-286, 1994 ]