Purpose: To survey postoperative infections (PIs) after digestive surgery. Methods: This survey, conducted by the Japan Society for Surgical Infection, included patients undergoing digestive surgery at 28 centers between September 2015 and March 2016.Data collected included patient background characteristics, type of surgery, contamination status, and type of PI, including surgical site infection (SSI), remote infection (RI), and antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacterial infections and colonization. Results: PIs occurred in 10.7% of 6,582 patients who underwent digestive surgery (6.8% for endoscopic surgery and 18.7% for open surgery). SSIs and RIs, including respiratory tract infection, urinary tract infection, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, drain infection, and catheter-related bloodstream infection, occurred in 8.9% and 3.7% of patients, respectively. Among all PIs, the most common overlapping infections were incisional and organ/space SSIs, which occurred in 4.2% of patients. AMR bacterial infections occurred in 1.2% of patients after digestive surgery. The rate of AMR bacterial colonization after digestive surgery was only 0.3%. Conclusions: Periodic surveillance of PIs, including AMR bacteria, is necessary for a detailed evaluation of nosocomial infections.
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