Source
Department of Surgery, St. Boniface General Hospital, Winnipeg, Man. Mark_Torchia@sbrc.umanitoba.ca
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
To determine whether transfused colorectal surgery patients were at increased risk for postoperative infections in a tertiary care teaching hospital and whether transfusion alone was the only significant risk factor.
DESIGN:
A retrospective study.
SETTING:
A single tertiary care teaching hospital.
PATIENTS:
All patients admitted to St. Boniface General Hospital, Winnipeg, for colorectal surgery during the period Apr. 1, 1995, through Mar. 31, 1996, were studied (N = 154).
RESULTS:
The overall infection rate was 17%: nontransfused patients, 13%, and transfused patients, 28% (p < 0.038). Patients who received albumin perioperatively had a significantly higher infection rate (38%) than those who did not (13%) (p < 0.001). Stepwise logistic regression analysis identified transfusion and albumin administration as the only independent risk factors for postoperative infection.
CONCLUSION:
Perioperative transfusion or albumin administration significantly increases the risk of postoperative infection in colorectal surgery patients.