Usefulness of Wound Cleaning after Stoma Closure: A Retrospective Study Comparing the Incidence of Surgical Site Infection

Abstract

Surgical site infection (SSI) is a frequent complication after stoma closure. The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of wound cleaning after stoma closure. Sixty-five patients who underwent stoma closure between September 2008 and September 2018 were included in this study. Thirty-four patients started wound cleaning a few days after stoma closure, and 31 patients did not. The overall SSI rate was 10.8%. The incidence of SSI of patients with wound cleaning (2.9%) was remarkably lower than that of patients without wound cleaning (9.4%).