The degree of bacterial contamination remains a major determinant in the development of surgical site infections (SSI), which continue to be a leading cause of morbidity among surgical patients. For this reason, we performed a prospective survey on the relative frequency of surgical site infections based on bacterial contamination categories. Of the 774 operations in our department over a six-month period from January 1 to July 31, 1989, the overall surgical site infection rate was 7.8% with specific surgical site infection rates of 2.5%, 5.8%, 14.7% and 16.9% on clean, clean-contaminated, contaminated and dirty operations respectively. A comparison with published acceptable surgical wound infection rates among the different bacterial contamination categories showed comparable results except for contaminated cases (p = 0.0376). Deep incisional SSI tended to be higher among dirty operations with a risk eight times higher compared with clean operations.

The use of prophylactic antibiotics was also noted as they were practiced by the different surgeons, without specific guidelines as to their use. An in-depth study is needed to determine the effects of antibiotic prophylaxis on surgical site infection rate.

Human ; Male ; Female ; Antibiotic Prophylaxis ; Surgical Wound Infection ; Surgeons ; Morbidity ; Risk ; Surveys And Questionnaires ; Anti-bacterial Agents

Difference in endocrine features between men and women supports a biological hypothesis in affective disorders among women. Studies done showed high probability that mood changes in associated with hormonal alterations, particularly that of estrogen and progesterone. There are cyclic morphological changes occurring in the female reproductive system in response to these hormones. The cytohormonal maturation index (CHMI) is used to evaluate the female hormonal milieu. A differential of the three types of cells is expressed as percentages of the parabasal (P), the intermediate (I), and the superficial (S) cells, in that order. Predominance of the intermediate cells reflect high levels of progesterone, and the superficial cells that of estrogen. This study aims to compare the correlation of CHMI with ovulatory phase between women of reproductive age with affective disorder and normal control; and to compare the CHMI of the two groups. Eight women of reproductive age (mean age = 29.62 +/- 7.95), diagnosed to have affective disorders and having an episode of mania/hypomania or depression, underwent Paps smear. Written consents were obtained. LMP and PMP were obtained to determine the current ovulatory phase. The control group is composed of seven women of same age group (mean age = 29.29 +/- 6.65) having no manifestations of any psychiatric illnesses. Paps smear was performed by a Gynecology Resident. A Pathology Resident blinded to the study reviewed the slides for CHMI. Fishers exact I test and Mann-Whitney U test were utilized. A p value of 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. There is a significant difference in the proportion of agreement between the ovulatory phase and the CHMI between the two groups (p=0.045). However, there is no difference in the percentages of progesterone and estrogen between the two groups (p=0.247 and 0.452, respectively).
Human ; Female ; Adult ; WOMEN ; FOLLICULAR PHASE ; MOOD DISORDERS ; ;