Treating Post Op Infections

Treating post-operative infections is an interesting conundrum for the practitioners. Hopefully the preoperative management and asepsis will make this presentation a rare occurrence. Prevention is the most important consideration and effective surgical asepsis plus gentle surgical technique will help reduce the risks.

Wound licking by the patient or other animals in the household is an important cause of post-operative sepsis and regular post-operative examination is an important component for controlling the development of post op infection.

Should infection develop it is important to assess the causes and address them early in the sequence of events; use of anti-licking techniques and topical therapy maybe all that is needed in early cases. If more severe, the use of systemic antibiotics may be required and these should be selected on an individual assessment. The use of broad spectrum therapy should be avoided at this first line of therapy unless there are strong indicators for their use. For example a cutaneous post-operative infection will require a very different approach than a deep or body cavity contamination.

The use of culture and sensitivity should be high on the agenda especially where antibiotics have recently been or are currently in use.