Natori et al identified risk factors for surgical site infection (SSI) after liver transplantation. The authors are from Toronto General Hospital, University of Toronto, and Western University in Canada.
Patient selection: liver transplant
Rate of SSI in study population: 17%
The most common type of SSI was an organ-space infection.
Risk factors for surgical site infection from multivariate analysis:
(1) duct-to-duct anastomosis (odds ratio 3.9)
(2) dialysis (odds ratio 3.6)
Additional factors from univariate analysis:
(1) encephalopathy (odds ratio 0.5)
(2) antithrombocyte globulin (ATG) and basiliximab (odds ratio 2.9)
(3) bile leak (odds ratio 4.1)
(4) retransplant (odds ratio 3.6)
Ways to reduce the risk:
(1) appropriate perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis
(2) optimum coverage of potential pathogens (in the study 83% of organisms in significant SSIs were resistant to cefazolin
