Infection Risk Stratification in Pancreatic Surgery: Look to the Blood

Some years ago, while on weekend rounds when I was covering our hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) service, an enterprising medical student asked why every post-pancreatectomy patient seemed to be on a different perioperative antibiotic regimen. We had likely seen about 10 patients at various postoperative stages with similar recovery trajectories, yet they had been managed very differently with respect to pre-, peri-, and postoperative antibiotic use (not to mention the use of drains … a whole different story!).
Source: Journal of the American College of Surgeons - Category: Surgery Authors: Tags: Invited Commentary Source Type: research