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Bacterial Filters in Anesthesia: Results of 9 Years of Surveillance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Stijn van Hassel ,
Margot Laveaux ,
Marianne Leenders ,
Jan A. Kaan  and
Joke Mintjes
Stijn van Hassel
Affiliation:
Department of Infection Control, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Margot Laveaux
Affiliation:
Department of Anesthesiology, Oudenrijn Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Marianne Leenders
Affiliation:
Department of Anesthesiology, Oudenrijn Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Jan A. Kaan
Affiliation:
Clinical Microbiology, Oudenrijn and Diakonessen hospitals, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Joke Mintjes*
Affiliation:
National Organization for Quality Assurance in Hospitals, Utrecht, The Netherlands
*
National Organization for Quality Assurance in Hospitals, Postbus 20064, 3502 LB, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Abstract

In 9 years of surveillance of postoperative lower respiratory infections, the infection rate in patients following regional anesthesia was 0.2% and 0.1% in patients following general anesthesia. No bacterial filters in the breathing circuit were used. Infected patients had risk factors such as type of surgery, American Society of Anesthesiologists class ≥2, old age, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or smoking habits. Infections were not clustered. This suggests that, in our setting, patient factors are most important in the development of postoperative lower respiratory infections and that the role of bacterial filters as a preventive measure is negligible.

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 1999 , pp. 58 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1999

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