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I N F E C T I O N
P R E V E N T I O N
chief of plastic surgery at the
"
Almost all of my
University of Cincin-nati.
hernia cases
"The paradox of hernia
are done
repair is that the prosthetic
laparoscopically.
"
meshes you use to treat the
— Scott A. Cassidy,
condition can cause an infection."
MD, FACS
"Any foreign body has a
potential of increasing infection," says Margo Regas,
MSN, RN, CNOR, RN-BC,
clinical educator at Riley
Hospital for Children at
Indiana University Health in
Indianapolis. "If mesh is to
be used, we administer preop antibiotics." At the Physicians Ambulatory Surgical Center in
Circleville, Ohio, they soak the mesh in an antibiotic solution before
they implant it, says materials manager Mark Wetzel, CST.
While newer synthetic mesh devices are better than traditional
sutures at reinforcing the abdominal wall, they can irritate nerves and
carry a slightly higher risk of infection. "But," notes Jodie Stom, OR
tech at Women's Christian Association Hospital in Jamestown, N.Y.,
"most are antibiotic-impregnated."
Mesh may migrate, contract, flex, stiffen and become altered in the
body — "a balled-up mush," is how Dr. Cassidy puts it. Another way to
reduce the risk of adhesion and infection risk is to limit the amount of
foreign body that's implanted by using today's thinner, lighter, more
porous mesh designs. "Thinner mesh that is more porous is surgically
easier to position in the body and less damaging to surrounding tissues,"
D E C E M B E R 2013 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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