Postoperative wound infection: Relation to different types of operation and wound contamination categories in orthopaedic surgery

During one year, 1,407 operations were performed on inpatients in an orthopaedic department. The presence or absence of postoperative wound infection was recorded during the hospital stay, at discharge and at follow up. Wound infections were linked to operations of different contamination categories and to the different types of operation performed. Better information about the risk for postoperative wound infection and the need for antibiotic prophylaxis was provided by considering the different operation types.