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  Vol. 124 No. 3, March 1989 TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Nosocomial abscess. Results of an eight-year prospective study of 32,284 operations

M. M. Olson and M. O. Allen
Department of Surgery, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN 55417.

This article details the results of 114 abscesses found after 32,284 operations during a 30-day prospective infection surveillance. Abscesses occurred more often after gastric/esophageal (3.6%), colonic/appendiceal (2.8%), and pancreatic/biliary (1.5%) operations. Abscesses were intra-abdominal (58%), pelvic/perineal (31%), and retroperitoneal (3%). The most common pathogens were Escherichia coli, enterococci, and Bacteroides organisms. Abscess symptoms appeared 10 +/- 6 days (mean +/- SEM) after surgery and were drained 8 +/- 8 days after onset of symptoms. Hospital stay from onset of symptoms to discharge was four times greater than that for wound infection. Twenty-seven patients (28%) died. Mortality was increased in patients older than 50 years and in those with renal failure or multiple abscesses. Nosocomial abscesses had a greater morbidity than would infection. Excessive expense and high mortality warrant infection surveillance for both wound infection and ongoing nosocomial abscesses.

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Six Years of Surgical Wound Infection Surveillance at a Tertiary Care Center: Review of the Microbiologic and Epidemiological Aspects of 20,007 Wounds
Weiss III et al.
Arch Surg 1999;134:1041-1048.
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