• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.25-31
• /
• 2023

Objectives: With antibiotic resistance one of the biggest threats to global health, we report a case of surgical site infection (SSI) after breast cancer surgery that improved only with the treatment of Taglisodog-eum (托裏消毒飮), Korean herbal medicine, without the use of antibiotics. Methods: The patient diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ of left breast underwent nipple areola skin sparing mastectomy and reconstruction using deep inferior epigastric perforator flap. About a month later, superficial SSI occurred at the incision site of breast cancer surgery with general weakness, and Taglisodog-eum treatment was started. To evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment, we compared the infection site conditions before and after treatment. Results: About three weeks after taking Taglisodog-eum, the SSI improved along with the improvement of general weakness. Conclusions: This study shows that Taglisodog-eum may be effective for SSI after breast cancer surgery, and the potential for alternatives to reduce antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.426-429
• /
• 2023

Surgical site infection is a common healthcare-associated infection that rarely occurs several months after surgery. Herein, a case is described in which an abdominal mass lesion was found at a 6-month follow-up visit after gastrectomy was performed for early gastric cancer. Positron emission tomography-computed tomography revealed a 2.5 cm-sized mass with a high maximal standard uptake value (8.32), located above a previous anastomosis site. Locoregional recurrence of gastric cancer was diagnosed by multidisciplinary team discussion, and explorative laparotomy was performed. However, surgical and pathologic findings revealed that the mass was an intraabdominal abscess. In conclusion, differential diagnosis of delayed abscess formation should be considered if the possibility of tumor recurrence is low, especially after early gastric cancer surgery.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.61 no.5
• /
• pp.645-652
• /
• 2018

Objective : This study aimed to investigate the rates, types, and risk factors of surgical site infection (SSI) following intracranial neurosurgical procedures evaluated by a Korean SSI surveillance system. Methods : This was a prospective observational study of patients who underwent neurosurgical procedures at 29 hospitals in South Korea from January 2017 to June 2017. The procedures included craniectomy, craniotomy, cranioplasty, burr hole, and ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results : Of the 1576 cases included, 30 showed infection, for an overall SSI rate of 1.9%. Organ/space infection was the most common, found in 21 out of the 30 cases (70%). Staphylococcus aureus was the most common (41%) of all bacteria, and Serratia marcescens (12%) was the most common among gram-negative bacteria. In univariate analyses, the p-values for age, preoperative hospital stay duration, and over T-hour were <0.2. In a multivariate analysis of these variables, only preoperative hospital stay was significantly associated with the incidence of SSI (p<0.001), whereas age and over T-hour showed a tendency to increase the risk of SSI (p=0.09 and 0.06). Conclusion : Surveillance systems play important roles in the accurate analysis of SSI. The incidence of SSI after neurosurgical procedures assessed by a national surveillance system was 1.9%. Future studies will provide clinically useful results for SSI when data are accumulated.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.61 no.5
• /
• pp.608-617
• /
• 2018

Objective : This study aimed to investigate the rates, types, and risk factors of surgical site infection (SSI) following spinal surgery using data from a Korean SSI surveillance system that included diagnoses made by surgeons. Methods : This was a prospective observational study of patients who underwent spinal surgeries at 42 hospitals in South Korea from January 2017 to December 2017. The procedures included spinal fusion, laminectomy, discectomy, and corpectomy. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results : Of the 3080 cases included, 30 showed infection, and the overall SSI rate was 1.0% (an incidence of 1.2% in spinal fusion and 0.6% in laminectomy). Deep incisional infections were the most common type of SSIs (46.7%). Gram-positive bacteria caused 80% of the infections, and coagulase-negative staphylococci, including Staphylococcus epidermidis, accounted for 58% of the gram-positive bacteria. A longer preoperative hospital stay was significantly associated with the incidence of SSI after both spinal fusion and laminectomy (p=0.013, p<0.001). A combined operation also was associated with SSI after laminectomy (p=0.032). Conclusion : An SSI surveillance system is important for the accurate analysis of SSI. The incidence of SSI after spinal surgery assessed by a national surveillance system was 1.0%. Additional data collection will be needed in future studies to analyze SSI in spinal surgery.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.71-78
• /
• 2012

Background : The objective of this study was to examine the effect of management system for the appropriate prophylactic use of antibiotics in surgical patients at a tertiary hospital from 2007 to 2010. Methods : We collected clinical data of three different surgical procedures(colectomy, heart surgery, hysterectomy) for three months of 2007 and 2010, respectively. The number of total cases was 245(137, 54, 54) in 2007, 240(133, 42, 65) in 2010. We measured the rate of use of inappropriate prophylactic antibiotics, administration within 1 hour prior to the incision and the antibiotics prescription days after surgery. To evaluate the effectiveness of the management system, the results of the two groups(Group1=2007, Group2=2010) were compared by t-test, chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Result : The rate of Aminoglycoside uses decreased drastically from 11.4% to 0.8%(P<.001). The selection of 3rd/4th Cephalosporin dropped from 11.8% to 5.8%(P=.020). The combination of antibiotics decreased from 27.8% to 11.7%(P<.001). The antibiotic prescription rate on discharge declined from 11.8% to 2.5%(P<.001) and the number of antibiotics prescription days after surgery was shortened from 4.2 days to 2.3 days(P<.001). No significant difference in the rate of administration within 1 hour between two groups was found. Through 3-year management, 5 out of 6 measures were significantly improved(except the administration within 1 hour). The rate of surgical site infection decreased from 2.4% to 1.3%(P=.504). Conclusion : The findings demonstrate that the management system for the prophylactic use of antibiotics in surgical patients was effective in decreasing the rate of surgical site infection during 3 years.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.28-32
• /
• 2014

Purpose: Laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) has become a gold standard for children even in complicated appendicitis. The purpose of this study was to compare the postoperative surgical site infection rates between laparoscopic and open appendectomy (OA) group in pediatric complicated appendicitis. Methods: A total of 1,158 pediatric patients (age ${\leq}$ 15 years) underwent operation for appendicitis over a period of 8 years. Among these patients, 274 patients (23.7%) were diagnosed with complicated appendicitis by radiologic, operative and pathologic findings, and their clinical outcomes were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Of the 274 patients with complicated appendicitis, 108 patients underwent LA and 166 patients underwent OA. Patients in the LA group returned to oral intake earlier (1.9 days vs. 2.7 days; p<0.01) and had a shorter hospital stay (5.0 days vs. 6.3 days; p<0.01). However, rate of postoperative intra-abdominal infection (organ/space surgical site infection) was higher in the LA group (LA 15/108 [13.9%] vs. OA 12/166 [7.2%]; p<0.01). Readmission rate was also higher in the LA group (LA 9/108 [8.3%] vs. OA 3/166 [1.8%]; p<0.01). Conclusion: The minimally invasive laparoscopic technique has more advantages compared to the open procedure in terms of hospital stay and early recovery. However, intra-abdominal infection and readmission rates were higher in the laparoscopy group. Further studies should be performed to evaluate high rate of organ/space surgical infection rate of laparoscopic procedure in pediatric complicated appendicitis.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.293-296
• /
• 2010

Purpose: NTM (non tuberculous mycobacteria) is rare cause of surgical site infection after plastic surgery in immunocompetent patients. There are some reports about NTM infection after body contouring procedure from Latin America. But, there is no report in Korea. The purpose of this article is to report 2 patients with soft tissue infection caused by NTM after body contouring procedure. Methods: Two young female patients exhibited signs of inflammation and abscess after body contouring procedure. One patient underwent liposuction. The other underwent HPL (hypotonic pharmacologic lipo-dissolution) injection. Results: The result of tissue cultures were positive for NTM. All patients responded to the combined therapeutic approach. Conclusion: The goal of this article is to raise awareness among plastic surgeons who may encounter such patients in their practice. NTM should be included in the differential diagnosis of surgical site infection after body contouring surgery.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.136-140
• /
• 2019

Background: Epidermal cysts are the most common benign epithelial tumors in humans. The curative treatment of epidermal cyst is surgical excision. However, only few studies have investigated the cause and mechanism of postoperative complications of epidermal cysts. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the factors affecting complications of epidermal cyst after surgical treatment. Methods: Patients with histologically diagnosed epidermal cysts were selected from among 98 consecutive patients with excised benign cystic tumors from March 2014 to August 2017. Sex, age, size, mobility, site of occurrence, history of infection, history of incision and drainage, complications, history of reoperation, and method of overcoming complications was obtained by analyzing medical records retrospectively. Results: Five of the 98 patients had wound dehiscence due to surgical infection. Three of them underwent wound healing with conservative treatment without a second operation. The other two patients underwent a second operation and showed signs of preoperative infection. None of the factors showed statistical significance in relation to the occurrence of complications. Conclusion: Postoperative complications occurred when the excision of the epidermal cyst was performed at preoperative infection sites or at sites with high tension, so attention should be paid to postoperative care.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.44-60
• /
• 2011

Background : Surgical site infection(SSI) is one of the important nosocomial infections with pneumonia, urinary tract infection. SSI increases mortality, morbidity, length of stay, and costs for postoperative patients. The purpose of this study was to estimate length of stay(LOS) and health care costs from SSI using the large observational data. The ultimate objective was to show the effect of prevention of SSI. Method : This study used antibiotic prophylaxis evaluation data and claims data of the HIRA(Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service). The study population included 18,361 patients who underwent gastric surgery, endoscopic cholecystectomy, colon surgery, hysterectomy, cesarean section in nationwide hospitals from August to October 2007. SSI group and non-SSI group were matched according to propensity score resulted from logistic regression. The paired t-test was used to compare the difference of the LOS and health care costs between SSI group and non-SSI group. Results : The 598 cases of SSI were detected of total subjects, and the crude SSI rate was 3.3%. For each surgery, SSI rates were 5.5% for gastric surgery, 4.7% for cholecystectomy, 6.6% for colon surgery, 2.6% for hysterectomy, and 1.6% for cesarean section. The 596 cases of SSI and the 596 cases of non-SSI were matched by propensity score. The LOS of SSI group was longer than that of non-SSI group, and the difference was statistically significant. Health care costs of SSI group was more than that of non-SSI group which was significant. Conclusions : SSI increased apparently the LOS and healthcare costs. The economic loss might affect the cost of national healthcare as well as patients and hospitals. This study provided the evidence that the healthcare expenditure could be reduced by preventing SSI.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.180-188
• /
• 2011

Purpose: This study was to identify nursing diagnosis-outcome-intervention (NANDA- NOC-NIC: NNN) linkages applied to inpatients in general surgical nursing units. Methods: We developed the NNN linkage computerized nursing process program, which consisted of the 107 nursing outcomes and the 190 nursing interventions linked to the 39 nursing diagnoses. This program was applied to 324 patients who admitted to those nursing units from July, 2004 to February, 2005. Results: First, nursing outcomes of each nursing diagnosis were identified as follows: for 'acute pain', pain control, pain level, and comfort level; for 'risk for infection', wound healing: primary intention, wound healing: secondary intention, and infection status; for 'nausea', nutritional status: food & fluid intake, comfort level, symptom severity and hydration. Second, major nursing interventions for each nursing outcome were analyzed as follows: for pain control or comfort level, pain management and medication management; for pain level, pain management and analgesic administration; for wound healing: primary intention, incision site care and wound care; for Wound healing: secondary intention or infection status, infection control; for nutritional status: food & fluid intake, fluid monitoring; for comfort level, nausea management; for symptom severity, nausea management and vomiting management; for hydration, fluid/electrolyte management. Conclusion: This identified NNN linkages will facilitate the use of nursing process in surgical nursing practice and documentation systems.