TITLE:
SSIs in Italy: Prevention and Surveillance during the Last Five Years
AUTHORS:
Carlo de Werra, Sergio Aloia, Rosa di Micco, Roberto del Giudice, Roberto Tramontano, Francesco Mangani, Ludovica Maria Esposito, Gabriele di Filippo
KEYWORDS:
Surgical Site Infections (SSIs), General Surgery, Infections, Antibiotic Prophylaxis, Prevention, Surveillance
JOURNAL NAME:
Surgical Science,
Vol.6 No.8,
August
19,
2015
ABSTRACT: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are recognized as a common surgical
complication, occurring in about 2% - 5% of all surgical procedures. For this
reason, it is the second most common nosocomial infection, representing the
19.6% of all infections observed in hospitalized patients and 38% of those
observed among surgical patients. Among SSIs prevention strategies,
surveillance has been proved to be very incisive. The most recent surveillance
study carried out at a national level in Italy is SNICh protocol (National Surveillance System of Surgical Site Infections), which analyses data
received from 127 Italian hospitals, from the 2009 to 2011 and the entire 2013.
The only application of a surveillance strategy, observing the recommended
prophylaxis protocols, brought to a reduction of SSIs: their incidence has been
shown to be comparable to European or American one. Furthermore, recent studies
have brought strong evidence that the development of new devices, such as
dressings impregnated with silver nanoparticles or triclosan-coated sutures, is
strongly connected with the reduction of incidence of SSIs. In conclusion, if
common preventive techniques were applied to all surgical procedures performed
in the country, about 14,000 SSIs per year could be avoided with a possible
savings after three years between 50 million and EUR 175 million euro.