Postoperative Wound Infection

The increased hospital stay and direct cost of hospitalization that resulted from a postoperative wound infection (presence of pus at the incision site) after each of 6 common operations were evaluated. With the aid of the hospital computer, matched controls were obtained with respect to patient age, sex, exact operation performed, clinical service performing operation, pathologic finding, and underlying disease process which might alter the patient's predisposition toward infection. Several of the operations (appendectomy. cholecystectomy, total abdominal hysterectomy, and coronary artery bypass graft) were subtyped in order to obtain equivalence between controls and infected patients. In general, an infection doubles the postoperative stay and significantly increases the hospital expense.