ABSTRACT
Background: Surgical site infections (SSI) formerly termed surgical wound infection, are one of the most frequent post-operative infectious complication. Patients with SSI had longer and costlier hospitalization than patients who didn't have such infection. Laparoscopic surgery as a minimally invasive surgery have good outcome regarding SSI as compared to open procedure. Aims & Objective: To compare infection rate after laparoscopic versus open surgery. Material and Methods: A retrospective analysis of large number of cases in SMIMER Hospital was conducted. Patients who underwent laparoscopic (n=4500) or open (n=1500) appendicectomy, cholecystectomy, anti-reflux surgery, or gastric bypass from 2009 to 2012 were included in the analysis. The main outcome measure was inpatient diagnosis of SSI (Surgical Site Infection) after laparoscopic and open surgery. Results: During 36 month of study period total of 6000 patient underwent one of four selected procedure. Overall, the incidence of SSI was significantly lower in laparoscopic (100 of 4500, 2.0%) than in open (150 of 1500, 10%) surgery (P<0.01). Largely, laparoscopic techniques offer a protective effect against SSI. Patient treated with laparoscopy were 76% less likely to experience SSI. Odds Ratio (OR), 0.30; 95% Confidence Interval (CI), 0.28-0.34. Conclusion: Patient treated with laparoscopic procedure is less likely to experience SSI. After stratification by severity of illness, wound classification & admission status, laparoscopic techniques shows a protective effect against SSI.