Feasibility of subcutaneous gentamicin and pressurized irrigation as adjuvant strategies to reduce surgical site infection in colorectal surgery: results of a pilot study.

Surgical site infections (SSIs) remain a common and costly morbidity after colorectal surgery. This rate remains high even in the setting of strict adherence to Surgical Care Improvement Project Protocols. The aim of our pilot study was to determine the feasibility and safety of subcutaneous gentamicin injection or pressurized irrigation as adjuncts to reduce SSI.

Evaluating an evidence-based bundle for preventing surgical site infection: a randomized trial.

Objective: To determine if an evidence-based practice bundle would result in a significantly lower rate of surgical site infections (SSIs) when compared with standard practice.

Design: Single-institution, randomized controlled trial with blinded assessment of main outcome. The trial opened in April 2007 and was closed in January 2010.

Surgical site infections after colorectal surgery: do risk factors vary depending on the type of infection considered?

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare risk factors for the development of incisional versus organ/space infections in patients undergoing colorectal surgery.

Methods: An institutional review board-approved retrospective review was performed examining a 4-year period (January 2002 to December 2005). Patients were included if they had undergone abdominal operations (open or laparoscopic) in which the colon/rectum was surgically manipulated.

Transmetatarsal amputation: assessment of current selection criteria.

Background: Transmetatarsal amputation (TMA) is an operation designed to remove a limited area of irremediable tissue ischemia and/or infection and preserve limb function. Patients are selected for TMA based on degree of tissue loss/infection, adequacy of tissue perfusion at the transmetatarsal level, current ambulatory status, and estimation of the likelihood of postprocedure ambulation. The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of these selection criteria.

Correlation between ankle-brachial index, symptoms, and health-related quality of life in patients with peripheral vascular disease.

Objective: Improving health-related quality of life (HRQL) is the main goal of surgery to treat peripheral vascular disease (PVD); however, HRQL is rarely measured directly. Rather, most surgeons use other measures, such as patient symptoms and ankle-brachial index (ABI) to determine the need for intervention in PVD. The accuracy of these surrogates in representing HRQL has been untested.

Surgical complications exert a lasting effect on disease-specific health-related quality of life for patients with colorectal cancer.

Background: For individual patients with colorectal cancer, health-related quality of life (HRQL) after treatment is a function of several factors that include preexisting medical conditions, the disease burden, and the treatment that is rendered. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that were associated with posttreatment HRQL.

Methods: At baseline and again at 12 months after diagnosis, patients completed the colorectal cancer-specific HRQL survey: Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT-C).