Risk factors for surgical site infection after pancreatic surgery: a better postoperative antibiotic strategy is possible

Efficacy of perioperative oral care management in the prevention of surgical complications in 503 patients after pancreaticoduodenectomy for resectable malignant tumor: A multicenter retrospective analysis using propensity score matching

BACKGROUND

Pancreaticoduodenectomy has been associated with a high mortality rate and significant postoperative morbidity. Recently, perioperative oral care management has been reported to be effective in preventing postoperative pneumonia and surgical site infection. In this study, we examined the effect of perioperative oral care management in reducing complications after pancreaticoduodenectomy, including surgical site infection.

METHODS

This retrospective multicenter study included 503 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy at 8 facilities between January 2014 and December 2016. Among these, 144 received perioperative oral management by dentists and dental hygienists (oral management group), whereas the remaining 359 did not (control group). The oral care management program included oral health instructions, removal of dental calculus, professional mechanical tooth cleaning, removal of tongue coating, denture cleaning, instructions for gargling, and tooth extraction. The participants were matched using propensity scores to reduce background bias. Various factors were examined for correlation with the development of complications.

RESULTS

The incidence of organ/space surgical site infection was significantly lower in the oral management group than in the control group (8.0% vs 19.6%, P = .005). Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that hypertension and lack of perioperative oral management were independent risk factors for organ/space surgical site infection. Lack of perioperative oral management had an odds ratio of 2.847 (95% confidence interval 1.335-6.071, P = .007).

CONCLUSION

Perioperative oral care management reduces the occurrence of surgical site infections after pancreaticoduodenectomy and should be recommended as a strategy to prevent infections in addition to antibiotic use.

Comparison of prognosis and postoperative morbidities between standard pancreaticoduodenectomy and the TRIANGLE technique for resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Radical surgery combined with systemic chemotherapy offers the possibility of long-term survival or even cure for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), although tumor recurrence, especially locally, still inhibits the treatment efficacy. The TRIANGLE technique was introduced as an extended dissection procedure to improve the R0 resection rate of borderline resectable or locally advanced PDAC. However, there was a lack of studies concerning postoperative complications and long-term outcomes of this procedure on patients with resectable PDAC.

AIM

To compare the prognosis and postoperative morbidities between standard pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) and the TRIANGLE technique for resectable PDAC.

METHODS

Patients with resectable PDAC eligible for PD from our hospital between June 2018 and December 2021 were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study. All the patients were divided into PDstandard and PDTRIANGLE groups according to the surgical procedure. Baseline characteristics, surgical data, and postoperative morbidities were recorded. All of the patients were followed up, and the date and location of tumor recurrence, and death were recorded. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used for the survival analysis.

RESULTS

There were 93 patients included in the study and 37 underwent the TRIANGLE technique. Duration of operation was longer in the PDTRIANGLE group compared with the PDstandard group [440 (410-480) min vs 320 (265-427) min] (P = 0.001). Intraoperative blood loss [700 (500-1200) mL vs 500 (300-800) mL] (P = 0.009) and blood transfusion [975 (0-1250) mL vs 400 (0-800) mL] (P = 0.009) were higher in the PDTRIANGLE group. There was a higher incidence of surgical site infection (43.2% vs 12.5%) (P = 0.001) and postoperative diarrhea (54.1% vs 12.5%) (P = 0.001) in the PDTRIANGLE group. The rates of R0 resection and local recurrence, overall survival, and disease-free survival did not differ significantly between the two groups.

CONCLUSION

The TRIANGLE technique is safe, with acceptable postoperative morbidities compared with standardized PD, but it does not improve prognosis for patients with resectable PDAC.

Prolonged antibiotic prophylaxis after pancreatoduodenectomy: systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have reported conflicting results of prolonged antibiotic prophylaxis on infectious complications after pancreatoduodenectomy. This study evaluated the effect of prolonged antibiotics on surgical-site infections (SSIs) after pancreatoduodenectomy.

METHODS

A systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken of SSIs in patients with perioperative (within 24 h) versus prolonged antibiotic (over 24 h) prophylaxis after pancreatoduodenectomy. SSIs were classified as organ/space infections or superficial SSI within 30 days after surgery. ORs were calculated using a Mantel-Haenszel fixed-effect model.

RESULTS

Ten studies were included in the qualitative analysis, of which 8 reporting on 1170 patients were included in the quantitative analysis. The duration of prolonged antibiotic prophylaxis varied between 2 and 10 days after surgery. Four studies reporting on 782 patients showed comparable organ/space infection rates in patients receiving perioperative and prolonged antibiotics (OR 1.35, 95 per cent c.i. 0.94 to 1.93). However, among patients with preoperative biliary drainage (5 studies reporting on 577 patients), organ/space infection rates were lower with prolonged compared with perioperative antibiotics (OR 2.09, 1.43 to 3.07). Three studies (633 patients) demonstrated comparable superficial SSI rates between patients receiving perioperative versus prolonged prophylaxis (OR 1.54, 0.97 to 2.44), as well as in patients with preoperative biliary drainage in 4 studies reporting on 431 patients (OR 1.60, 0.89 to 2.88).

CONCLUSION

Prolonged antibiotic prophylaxis is associated with fewer organ/space infection in patients who undergo preoperative biliary drainage. However, the optimal duration of antibiotic prophylaxis after pancreatoduodenectomy remains to be determined and warrants confirmation in an RCT.

The hepatic and pancreatic tumour resection risk factors for surgical site wound infections: A meta-analysis

A meta-analysis was conducted to measure hepatic and pancreatic tumour resection (HPTR) risk factors (RFs) for surgical site wound infections (SSWIs). A comprehensive literature inspection was conducted until February 2023, and 2349 interrelated investigations were reviewed. The nine chosen investigations included 22 774 individuals who were in the chosen investigations' starting point, 20 831 of them were with pancreatic tumours (PTs), and 1934 with hepatic tumours (HTs). Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to compute the value of the HPTR RFs for SSWIs using dichotomous and continuous approaches, and a fixed or random model. HT patients with biliary reconstruction had significantly higher SSWI (OR, 5.81; 95% CI, 3.42-9.88, P < .001) than those without biliary reconstruction. Nevertheless, there was no significant difference between individuals with PT who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy and those who underwent distal pancreatectomy in SSWI (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 0.95-2.77, P = .07). HT individuals with biliary reconstruction had significantly higher SSWI compared with those without biliary reconstruction. Nevertheless, there was no significant difference between PT individuals who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy and those who underwent distal pancreatectomy in SSWI. However, owing to the small number of selected investigations for this meta-analysis, care must be exercised when dealing with its values.

Fighting postsurgical infection after myelomeningocele repair with medical honey (Medihoney): a case report

Surgical site infection (SSI) prolongs the treatment period, delays wound healing, increases antibiotic consumption, and leads to patient death in complicated cases. This case was a 10-day female infant born at 37-week- and 6-day of gestational age with a birth weight of 3700 g and Apgar 5/8 by emergency cesarean section due to spina bifida cystica with myelomeningocele (MMC). She was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) because of respiratory distress and hypotonic lower extremities on June 2, 2022. A cardiovascular and neurosurgery consult was okay for reconstructive surgery, and she had MMC repair surgery by a plastic surgeon on June 5, 2022. The surgical site was infected, and SSI had no improvement, despite regularly receiving wet and Vaseline gauze dressing and intravenous antibiotic therapy. We started the treatment using Medihoney™, honey antibacterial wound dressing, on SSI once a day for 2 weeks, then once every other day for the next 6 weeks. Her SSI was cured entirely after 2 months, and she was discharged from our wound treatment team in satisfactory general condition. Clinicians and wound care management teams could use honey antibacterial wound gel to treat SSI, particularly in newborns with weakened immune systems after spinal birth defects repair.

Treating surgical site infection by honey antibacterial wound dressing in a neonate: a case report

Surgical site infection (SSI) increases length of treatment, delays wound healing, increases antibiotic use and causes patient death in severe cases. This case was a boy aged 38 weeks and 4 days with a birthweight of 2100 g, a height of 42 cm and a head circumference of 32 cm. Twelve days after birth, he was admitted to hospital where a surgeon removed a sacrococcygeal teratoma. The surgical site became infected, and the infection failed to improve despite him receiving routine normal saline dressings twice a day and intravenous antibiotic therapy. The authors started treatment using an antibacterial wound dressing containing honey (Medihoney) on the SSI twice a day for a month. The infant's SSI was wholly healed after 3 months, and he was discharged from the wound treatment team in good general condition. This case shows that SSIs can be treated with honey-containing antibacterial wound gel, especially in infants who have weaker immune systems.

Failure to Rescue After Pancreatoduodenectomy: A Transatlantic Analysis

OBJECTIVE

This analysis aimed to compare failure to rescue (FTR) after pancreatoduodenectomy across the Atlantic.

SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA

FTR, or mortality after development of a major complication, is a quality metric originally created to compare hospital results. FTR has been studied in North American and Northern European patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy (PD). However, a direct comparison of FTR after PD between North America and Northern Europe has not been performed.

METHODS

Patients who underwent PD in North America, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany (GAPASURG dataset) were identified from their respective registries (2014-17). Patients who developed a major complication defined as Clavien-Dindo ≥3 or developed a grade B/C postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) were included. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative variables were compared between patients with and without FTR. Variables significant on univariable analysis were entered into a logistic regression for FTR.

RESULTS

Major complications occurred in 6188 of 22,983 patients (26.9%) after PD, and 504 (8.1%) patients had FTR. North American and Northern European patients with complications differed, and rates of FTR were lower in North America (5.4% vs 12%, P < 0.001). Fourteen factors from univariable analysis contributing to differences in patients who developed FTR were included in a logistic regression. On multivariable analysis, factors independently associated with FTR were age, American Society of Anesthesiology ≥3, Northern Europe, POPF, organ failure, life-threatening complication, nonradiologic intervention, and reoperation.

CONCLUSIONS

Older patients with severe systemic diseases are more difficult to rescue. Failure to rescue is more common in Northern Europe than North America. In stable patients, management of complications by interventional radiology is preferred over reoperation.