ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Infection of the surgical site is the common complication, with significant rates of morbidity and mortality, representing a considerable economic problem for the health system.
Objective:
To carry out a narrative review of the literature on surgical site infection and the principles of antibiotic prophylaxis to update the knowledge of its use in surgery.
Method:
Medline, Ovid, Google Scholar, National Library of Medicine (PubMed), Cochrane and SciELO were used for the research. The keywords used were “anti-bacterial agents”; “antibioticoprophylaxis” AND “surgical wound infection”. The inclusion criteria were articles of recent publication, with full texts available and performed in humans.
Result:
A total of 29 articles were evaluated and selected according to the eligibility criteria.
Conclusion:
Infection of the surgical site is the most common postoperative complication. The key point of its prevention is the combination of several interventions that aim to reduce risk factors, such as: compliance with the new guidelines of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention; the principles of the use of prophylactic antibiotics; factors and risk index of the surgical site; administration time; duration and dosage of antibiotics. These data are available in this article.
HEADINGS:
Antibiotic prophylaxis; Infection control; Surgical site infection; Postoperative complications