The Factors Associated with Postoperative Acquisition of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in Gastroenterological Surgery

Yoshio Takesue, Takashi Yokoyama*, Takashi Kodama, Yoshiaki Murakami, Takahiro Santou, Katsunari Miyamoto, Mitsuaki Okita, Shigeki Tsuru, Yuichiro Matsuura

First Department of Surgery, Hiroshima University School of Medicine
*Department of General Medicine, Hiroshima University Hospital

The authors investigated the factors associated with postoperative acquisition of MRSA in gastroenterological surgery. Surgical patients from whom MRSA was isolated had a longer hospital stay before the operation than the patients acquiring infections with other organisms. Although the underlying disease did not affect the acqusition of MRSA, a postoperative complication like suture insufficiency or blood sugar uncontrollability, or massive operative trauma caused MRSA infection. Regarding the number of invasive devices, there was a significant difference between the patients acquiring MRSA (3.1) and the patients acquiring other bacteria (2.2). Among the patients who acquired MRSA, a mean of 2.4 kinds of antibiotics were administered before isolation of the organism compared with 1.5 antibiotics among the patients with other bacteria. The duration of antimicrobial therapy before isolation was also significantly longer in the patients acquiring MRSA (9.7 days) than in the patients acquiring other bacteria (6.2 days).

Key words
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, nosocomial infection, antibiotics, invasive devices

Reprint requests
Yoshio Takesue First Department of Surgery, Hiroshima University School of Medicine
1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734 JAPAN

Accepted
January 12, 1994

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