Epidrual or spinal anesthesia may help curb the risk of surgical site infection when compared with the use of general anesthesia in patients undergoing total joint replacement surgery. In an editorial on the study, Daniel I. Sessler of the Cleveland Clinic Anesthesiology Institute’s Department of Outcomes Research, said the findings provide compelling epidemiologic evidence that neuraxial anesthesia reduces the risk of SSIs. The study examined 3,081 patients in Taiwan who underwent total knee and total hip replacement procedures, and it showed that SSI rates within 30 days of the procedure was 2.2 times greater in patients who had general anesthesia.

Patients who have had major chest or head operations are at an increased risk of developing post-surgical staphylococcus aureus infections. The findings are based on a review of 81,267 patients who underwent 96,455 orthopedic, cardiothoracic, plastic surgery or neurosurgery procedures at nine locations between 2003 and 2006. There were 454 staph infections among the patients, with the highest rates of bloodstream infections occurring in patients who had chest surgery, while the highest rates of surgical site infections occurred in patients who had brain operations. Deverick Anderson, lead author from Duke University Medical Center, said additional preventions for cardiovascular or neurosurgical procedures may be needed.

Patients might have a higher risk of developing invasive Staphylococcus aureus infections after cardiothoracic and neurosurgical procedures when compared with orthopedic or plastic surgical procedures, according to a study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. Lead author Deverick Anderson and his team of researchers from Duke University Medical Center studied the postsurgical outcomes of 96,455 procedures from 11 hospitals. Included in the analysis were individuals who had undergone orthopedic, neurosurgical, cardiothoracic and plastic surgical procedures between 2003 and 2006. The breakdown of MRSA infections ranged from 62 percent following cardiothoracic surgery to 35 percent following plastic surgery, the investigators found.

The attributable impact of S. aureus and methicillin-resistance on outcomes of surgical patients is substantial. Preventing a single case of SSI due to MRSA can save hospitals as much as $60,000.

Preoperative cleansing of the patient's skin with chlorhexidine–alcohol is superior to cleansing with povidone–iodine for preventing surgical-site infection after clean-contaminated surgery.

The number of surgical-site S. aureus infections acquired in the hospital can be reduced by rapid screening and decolonizing of nasal carriers of S. aureus on admission.

Research led by Nick Daneman of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto found that statin use was not linked with an elevated risk of surgical site infection in elderly patients. The study of 469,349 patients found an infection rate of 8.9 percent among statin patients, compared with 8.7 percent in non-statin patients

The aim of this study was to identify intraoperative risk factors for surgical site infections (SSIs), which are accessible to interventions. We evaluated the effect of extensive intraoperative antiseptic measures and the impact of the behavior of members of the surgical team on SSIs.