The authors of the study examined data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program on nearly 3,200 patients between 2005 and 2013. The study revealed 766 patients (24 percent) developed an infection within 30 days of surgery, the median hospital stay was eight days and the median time to infection was 13 days.
Here are five more findings from the study.
1. Urinary tract infections occurred in 10 percent of patients, surgical site infections in 12.7 percent and sepsis in 12.7 percent.
2. On multivariable analysis BMI, blood transfusion and operative time greater than eight hours were significant risk factors for post-operative infection.
3. UTIs were associated with age less than 50, obesity, nonsmoking status and operative time greater than eight hours.
4. Surgical site infections were associated with age less than 50, obesity, blood transfusion and operative time greater than six hours.
5. Finally, sepsis was associated with obesity, blood transfusion and operative time greater than eight hours.
The author highlighted that modifiable factors to reduce post-cystectomy infections were decreasing operative time and reducing blood transfusions. Additionally, the majority of infections occurred after hospital discharge, suggesting that patients with risk factors could benefit from post-discharge monitoring.
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