[citation needed] The body responds to postoperative wounds in the same manner as it does to tissue damage acquired in other circumstances.
If the surgical wound worsens, or if a rupture of the digestive system is suspected the decision may be to investigate the source of the drainage or infection.
[5] Wound infections can be superficial (skin only), deep (muscle and tissue), or spread to the organ or space where the surgery occurred.
Treatment at this point becomes more complex depending upon the extent of the opening, where it occurs and if contents of the digestive system have entered the body.
Some measures such as antibiotic prophylaxis before caesarean section and hernial repair are useful in reducing surgical site infection.
Intravenous prophylactic antibiotics are recommended, to be administered within one hour from the beginning of the surgical procedure.
[13][14][15][16] Of note, a recent randomised controlled trial performed in low- and middle-income countries did not report any reduction in surgical site infection after abdominal surgery with antiseptic (triclosan-coated) sutures.
Removing the hair where the skin will be cut helps to reduce the risk of complications, though shaving is not considered to be appropriate and instead depilatories are used.
These are: minimizing traffic in the operating room, providing adequate ventilation, not closing wounds that are infected, minimize tissue handling, re-administer prophylactic antibiotics if large amounts of fluid are lost during surgery, and keeping the patient warm.
[19][20][21][22][23][24][25] The risk of complications after surgery can be reduced by: maintaining blood glucose levels in the normal range and constant evaluation of surgical site infection.