Surgical associated factors — preoperative radiation/postoperative blood transfusion , combined anterior/posterior approach , surgical invasiveness , or levels of instrumentation were associated with increased SSI .
There is mixed evidence of age , duration of surgery , surgical team , intraoperative blood loss , dural tear , and urinary tract infection/urinary catheter in association with SSI .
Conclusion : SSIs are associated with many risk factors that can be patient or surgically related .
Objective : To perform a review of SSI risk factors and more specifically , categorize them into patient and surgical factors .
Preoperative prealbumin level as a risk factor for surgical site infection following elective spine surgery
Background : Nutritional status is a critical factor in patient outcomes in a variety of medical context s. In the surgical fields , there is substantial evidence suggesting that clinical outcomes including infection risk and surgical efficacy may be affected by preoperative nutritional status . The purpose of this study is to evaluate preoperative serum prealbumin levels , the currently preferred serum biomarker of nutritional deficiency , in relation to the risk of developing a surgical site infection . Methods : A retrospective case – control series was conducted comparing prospect ively collected preadmission serum prealbumin levels  to the risk for surgical site infection following elective spine surgery .  The analysis was conducted under an approved institutional quality assurance protocol . Patients were identified by querying the department billing codes for deep wound washouts over a 3-year period . A cohort of 32 patients with preoperative prealbumin levels who underwent spine surgery complicated by postoperative deep tissue infection was identified . This was compared against a case – control cohort of 74 patients who underwent spine surgery and did not experience postoperative infection . Clinical variables included demographic information , body mass index , smoking , diabetes , steroid use , length of the procedure , and length of hospital stay . The data were analyzed using multivariate Cox regression . Results : Two variables : Preoperative prealbumin < 20 and diabetes were both statistically significant predictors for the risk of developing a postoperative infection with hazard ratios of 2.12 ( 95 % confidence interval [ CI ] : 1.03–4.37 ) and 2.22 ( 95 % CI : 1.04–4.75 ) , respectively . Conclusions : Our results reinforce the relationship between preoperative nutritional status and outcomes in elective spine surgery . The data indicate that preoperative prealbumin levels may be useful in risk stratification . Further study is needed to determine whether nutritional supplementation may reduce the risk of infection
Surgical associated factors — preoperative radiation/postoperative blood transfusion , combined anterior/posterior approach , surgical invasiveness , or levels of instrumentation were associated with increased SSI .
There is mixed evidence of age , duration of surgery , surgical team , intraoperative blood loss , dural tear , and urinary tract infection/urinary catheter in association with SSI .
Conclusion : SSIs are associated with many risk factors that can be patient or surgically related .
Objective : To perform a review of SSI risk factors and more specifically , categorize them into patient and surgical factors .