The Factors Associated with Postoperative Acquisition of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in Gastroenterological Surgery

Abstract

The authors investigated the factors associated with postoperative acquisition of MRSA in gastroenterological surgery. Surgical patients from whom MRSA was isolated had a longer hospital stay before the operation than the patients acquiring infections with other organisms. Although the underlying disease did not affect the acqusition of MRSA, a postoperative complication like suture insufficiency or blood sugar uncontrollability, or massive operative trauma caused MRSA infection. Regarding the number of invasive devices, there was a significant difference between the patients acquiring MRSA (3.1) and the patients acquiring other bacteria (2.2). Among the patients who acquired MRSA, a mean of 2.4 kinds of antibiotics were administered before isolation of the organism compared with 1.5 antibiotics among the patients with other bacteria. The duration of antimicrobial therapy before isolation was also significantly longer in the patients acquiring MRSA (9.7 days) than in the patients acquiring other bacteria (6.2 days).