It is the infection of the wound produced by a surgical incision of the skin.
It appears when any of the following factors are present, alone or in combination: improper wound care, presence of microorganisms on the skin or in the air, insufficient disinfection of surgical material, immunosuppression (corticosteroids, diabetes, HIV, etc.) or previous diseases. It manifests with pain, redness and heat in the area, fever, bad odor and pus discharge.
To diagnose it, the health professional will take a medical history and perform a visual examination of the wound.
It is necessary to clean and disinfect the wound with soap and water, saline solution and an antiseptic such as povidone or chlorhexidine. Treatment may require oral antibiotics and antipyretics to reduce fever.
If there is no improvement, the patient should return to the emergency department.
- M. Serrano. Infección de la herida quirúrgica. Rev Colomb Cir 13(3): 150-157
- D. López, M. Hernández, T. Saldivar, T. Sotolongo, O. Valdés. Infección de la herida quirúrgica. Aspectos epidemiológicos. Rev Cub Med Mil 36(2): 1-10.
- S. Ponce. Manual de Prevención y Control de Infecciones Hospitalarias. Man Oper PALTEX, OPS 4(13):52-68.
- MedlinePlus. Rockville. 2017. Infecciones de heridas quirúrgicas - tratamiento; [citado el 21 de junio de 2017]. Disponible en: https://medlineplus.gov/spanish/ency/article/007645.htm
- UpToDate [Internet]. Waltham. 2017. Complications of abdominal surgical incisions; [citado el 21 de junio de 2017]. Disponible en: http://www.uptodate.com/contents/complications-of-abdominal-surgical-incisions?source=search_result&search=infeccion+herida+quirurica&selectedTitle=1~150
