A Review of Infection Control Measurements in Abdominal Laparoscopic Surgeries

Surgical site infections impose burden to patients and health systems costing more than ۳.۵ billion each year. The burden of surgical site infections resulted efforts to build strategies and control the infections. While laparoscopic surgery is associated with lower rate of surgical site infections, proper infection control measurements need to be adhered. These measurements divide into three phases as preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative. Considering health outcomes and treatment costs, these measurements need to be taken seriously to decrease the risk of infection and reduce the burden. Antibiotic prophylaxis has been indicated for clean-contaminated wounds during the surgeries. A course of full antibiotics is also necessary for dirty and contaminated wounds in order to prevent the post-surgical infections. Other perioperative infection control measurements also need to be adhered before surgery including surgical hand hygiene and hair removal. There are number of intraoperative infection prevention measurement which needs to be implemented including, surgical outfit, hand scrubbing, wound classification, duration and complexity of surgery and the use of antimicrobial suture. Post-operative wound care is also playing important role in infection control. As recommended the wound should not be touched with bare hands and sterile saline needs to be used for rinsing the wound.  

Keywords:

Surgical Site Infections , Infection Control , Abdominal Laparoscopy