Perioperative infection control measures in gastric surgery

Abstract

In Japan, proportion of elderly people is very high in gastric cancer patients who are candidates for gastrectomy. Patients with advanced gastric cancer often suffer from malnutrition before surgery, and often cannot eat enough food after gastric cancer surgery. Decreased physical strength due to aging and malnutrition promotes decreased immune function, impaired sputum excretion, aspiration, and etc., which may lead to increased risk of postoperative pneumonia and anastomotic dehiscence. Surgical site infection (SSI) is less common than colorectal surgery however pancreatic fistula may occur as a complication of lymph node dissection which may form an intra-abdominal abscess making treatment difficult. It is important to perform perioperative infection control measures based on these characteristics of gastric surgery.