Assessing Surgical Site Infection Rates Among Post Cardiac Surgery Patients - A Prospective Observational Study

Abstract

Globally, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death, claiming approximately 17.9 million lives per year ^[1]. Cardiovascular diseases is now the leading cause of death in India with a death rate of 272 per 100,000 population in India ^[2]. Surgical site infections amongst patients who have undergone cardiac surgery adds to the morbidity of the patients. Our study focusses on the pre-operative, intraoperative and post operative strategies to reduce the incidence of surgical site infection among patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting and aortic and / or mitral valve replacement. Pre-operatively, patients with fasting blood sugar < 160mg/dl were considered for elective cardiac surgery. Bilateral lower limb arterial doppler was done to rule out peripheral vascular disease. Scrubbing of patients with povidone iodine and chlorhexidine scrub allowing for a contact time of 3 minutes prior to incision was implemented. Post-operative strict glycemic control monitoring for up to a minimum of 6 weeks was done. Out of 398 patients, 18 patients (4.5%) had surgical site infection in our study.

The global average ranges from 3.5% - 28.6%.