Surgical infections – types, causes, diagnostics

1. Big picture

A surgical infection is an infection that either:

1. requires surgical treatment for source control, e.g. abscess, peritonitis, infected necrosis, empyema, necrotizing fasciitis, or
2. occurs as a complication of surgery, e.g. surgical site infection, anastomotic leak, catheter infection, postoperative pneumonia, urinary infection, intra-abdominal abscess.

The examiner wants you to think like a surgeon:

Suspect infection
→ identify the anatomical source
→ assess severity: local infection vs sepsis vs septic shock
→ take cultures if useful, but do not delay treatment
→ start resuscitation and antibiotics when indicated
→ obtain imaging if needed
→ drain, debride, remove foreign body, or operate for source control

The most important surgical principle:

Antibiotics can control bacterial spread, but they cannot sterilize pus, dead tissue, foreign bodies, or perforated organs. Source control is the key.

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