Pressure Ulcer Development in the Operating Room

The patient had surgery f o r repair of an abdominal aneunsm.The procedure lasted six hours.The patient's skin was reported to be intact on admisJion to the surgical intensive core unit following surger3.On the second postoperative day, a 6 x 8 cm bruiselike area over the sacrum ,vas reported.Despite treatment and preventive measures, by the sixth postoperative day, an 8 .rI0 cm sacral lesion covered with eschar developed.scenario such as the one described here may indicate that a pressure sore devel-A oped during the surgical period.The incidence of pressure sores in surgical patients vanes from 12% to 66%; however, the operating room as an etiologic factor is undefined.'A study of surgical patients who developed unexplained burnlike injuries after lengthy surgical procedures concluded that these lesions were pressure sores.? Three common factors in these