[Surgical site infection: SSI]

Abstract

Surgical site infection(SSI) is any infection originating in surgical wounds or the organs/spaces opened or manipulated during an operative procedure, and it is the most common postoperative complication. The definition of SSI is clearly standardized in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) guidelines. The degree of intra-operative contamination is important as a risk factor of SSI, and it is classified into clean, clean-contaminated, contaminated, and dirty/infected. Preventative measures for SSI, such as pre-, intra-, and postoperative infection control, are described in detail in the CDC guidelines. It is not an overstatement to say that how well SSI is controlled is the conclusive factor in good postoperative results.