Prevention Of Infection After Surgery Of The Colon Or Rectum

Overview

Infection is a common complication after surgery of the colon or rectum. Surgery of colon or rectum can be either done as an open surgery or laparoscopically. Either way, they both can lead to infections. Some of the risk factors that cause infection after the surgery are patient-related factors such as the age of the patient, underlying comorbidities, smoking, obesity and malnutrition. Surgery-related factors are such as preoperative preparation, disinfection, duration of surgery, antibiotic prophylaxis and hospital environment factors. The common type of infection after surgery of the colon and rectum is surgical site wound infection either superficial or deep. Symptoms of infection after surgery of the colon or rectum are a pain at the site of infection, pus discharge, fever and chills.