Editorial Commentary: Prophylaxis for Surgical Site Infections

Despite many attempts to prevent surgical site infections (SSIs), these complications are not uncommon in most hospitals while the precise determination of the burden of these infections in our country has not been performed but crude data in hospitals shows a significant cost of managements. With an estimated 27 million surgical procedures annually, and near 2– 5% rate of SSIs, approximately 300,000–500,000 surgical site infections can be predicted to occur each year. 1-3 In a study in United States, a mean increase of 7-10 days of postoperative hospitalization resulted into higher costs, including increase in annual health care expenditures ranging from 1–10 billion dollars. 4