www.iaset.us editor@iaset.us SURGICAL SITE INFECTIONS IN PATIENTS FOLLOWING OPEN HEART SURGERY: A STUDY ON INCIDENCE, RISK FACTORS AND MICROBIOLOGICAL PROFILE K.SAGAR BABU 1 & D. VIJAYA BHARATHI 2 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Cardio Thoracic Surgery, Andhra Medical College/King George Hospital, Maharanipeta, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Gayatri Vidya Parishad Institute of Health Care & Medical Technology, Marikavalasa, Madhurawada, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India ABSTRACT Purpose: Surgical site infection (SSI) is an important cause of morbidity and occasional mortality following open heart surgery. The aim of this study is to find out the incidence of surgical site infections in patients undergoing open heart surgery, the organisms responsible and the risk factors associated with such infections. Patients and Methods: Consecutive patients undergoing open heart surgery between June2014 and December2015 have been included for study. The exclusion criteria being age less than 30 years, penicillin/ cephalosporin allergy and any other associated systemic infections the parameters studied were age, sex, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and myocardial infarction, length of pre and postoperative hospital stay and duration of surgery. Suspected sites of infection were cultured. Postoperative follow up was done every month for six months. Results: One hundred thirty five patients who had median sternotomy for open heart surgery have been studied. Seventeen patients (12.59%) developed surgical site infection (SSI) infection (superficial sternal wound infection and leg wound infections) and all got cured with conservative management Organisms isolated at SSI were Staphylococcus aureus-7(41.17%), Escherichia coli- 3 (17.6%),Coagulase negative Staphylococcus - 2(11.76%), Klebsiella pneumoniae 2 (11.76%) , Pseudomonas aeruginosa -2 (11.76%) and Proteus species -1 (5.8%) . Surgical site infection has increased the postoperative hospital stay and the total treatment cost. Conclusions: The incidence of surgical site infections in this centre was comparable with other studies from India as well as abroad. Surgical site infection may occur due to non Staphylococcus aureus organisms. U ncontrolled diabetes mellitus and male sex are associated with higher infection rates. KEYWORDS: Diabetes Mellitus, Median Sternotomy, Open Heart Surgery, Staphylococcus Aureus, Surgical Site Infections (SSI) INTRODUCTION Despite improved understanding of the path physiology and improved methods of prevention and prophylaxis, infections remains the most common cause of postoperative morbidity and mortality [1] . Sternal wound infection is a serious infection after cardiac surgery [2] . It is of two types. Superficial sternal wound infection and deep sternal wound infection. The incidence of sternal wound infection ranges from 0.43%–2.3% [3, 4, and 5] . The bacteriological pattern for surgical site infection is both Gram positive and Gram negative organisms. It has also been noted that early detection and aggressive treatment were responsible for the reduction in the high mortality of surgical site infections previously reported [6,7]. International Journal of General Medicine and Pharmacy (IJGMP) ISSN(P): 2319-3999; ISSN(E): 2319-4006 Vol. 5, Issue 6, Oct - Nov 2016; 1-8 © IASET