Background: The
surgical wound infections (SWI) are common in
hospitals , depending on the type of
surgery and the presence of
risk factors ,
cancer patients have a higher
prevalence of
infection , (immune-compromised
state in which it is located). A low rate of
infection is one parameter to
measure the quality of surgical services. The aim of the present
work was to determine the epidemiological characteristics of SWI in
cancer patients in the Jaliscience institute of cancerology. Study
Design: A descriptive,
retrospective study .
Methodology: 46
patients were studied with SWI. Centers of
disease control and prevention criteria for
surgical wound infection were considered. Information was obtained from the Jaliscience Institute of Cancerology epidemiological department, using the
hospital network for epidemiological
surveillance (HNES) format
record ´s, included microbiological results and clinical data. The
statistical analysis were performed with the SPSS-20 program.
Results: There were 2637 major surgeries from April 2008 thru December 2010. 46 had SWI. Frequency of service per 100 infected surgeries was
Gastroenterology 58.6%,
Gynecology 32.6%,
Urology 4.4,
Head and
Neck 2.2% and
Traumatology 2.2%.
Incidence by
gender men (1.1),
women (0.83), with no significant difference. Average age of 51 years. The surgical-
wound infected (SWI) were detected between 7.4±4.2 days. Average days stay 19 days. The results of
microbiology cultures exhibited
Escherichia coli 53.3%,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa 11.9%,
Morganella morganii 4.8%,
Enterococcus faecium 11.9%,
Enterococcus faecalis 23.8%,
Staphylococcus -
coagulase -negative 7.1%,
Streptococcus ß-hemolytic 4.8%.
Conclusion: Surgical wound infection rates were
similar to that reported in other countries and below the rates reported in oncology
hospitals in
México . It is important to note that a proper preventive approach and epidemiological
surveillance are critical to avoid
mortality of
patients .