2007 Volume 21 Issue 4 Pages 550-554
Background. Postoperative infections are a major issue in chest surgery. We changed our perioperative prophylactic antibiotic policy to a single dose of cefazolin before and after surgery in July, 2002. Objective. To identify the risk factors of postoperative infections in patients undergoing chest surgery. Methods. From July, 2002, through December, 2003, 550 patients underwent chest surgery at our division. We reviewed 282 eligible patients for possible risk factors of postoperative infections and the results of sputum culture. Results. Postoperative infections developed in 15 (5.3%) patients. There were 5 (1.8%) wound infections, 4 (1.4%) cases of empyema, 3 (1.1%) of pneumonia, and 3 (1.1%) of urinary tract infection patients. The infection incidence rate did not change significantly after we modified our prophylactic antibiotic policy to a single dose of cefazolin before and after surgery. Multivariate analysis showed diabetes mellitus to be an independent risk factor of postoperative infection. Conclusions. The patients undergoing chest surgery with diabetes mellitus had an increased risk of postoperative infection. The modification of our prophylactic antibiotic policy did not affect the postoperative infection rate.