Risk Factors for Post-Operative Sepsis and Septic Shock in Patients Undergoing Emergency Surgery

Sepsis and Septic Shock in Patients Undergoing Thyroidectomy: Incidence, Risk Factors, and Outcomes

INTRODUCTION

Postoperative sepsis represents a rare complication following thyroidectomy. We aimed to explore the incidence, risk factors, sources, and outcomes of postoperative sepsis and septic shock among adult patients undergoing thyroidectomy.

METHODS

Data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program were used in this retrospective cohort study. Patients aged ≥18 y who underwent elective thyroidectomy between 2005 and 2019 were included. Multivariable binary logistic regression models were computed to explore risk factors and outcomes of 30-d sepsis and septic shock.

RESULTS

Among the 180,373 included patients, 0.1% developed sepsis or septic shock. Male gender, low body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologists classes 3-5, functional dependence, smoking, diabetes mellitus, pulmonary disease, inpatient surgery, malignant indication, clean-contaminated wound classification, and operation time ≥150 min were significant risk factors for development of sepsis or septic shock. Common infectious sources of sepsis included surgical site infections (29.6%), pneumonia (18.6%), urinary tract infections (16.2%), and multiple infections (6.9%). Patients with postoperative sepsis or septic shock were significantly more likely to develop complications, including wound disruption, stroke, cardiac and renal complications, thromboembolism, prolonged length of stay, unplanned reoperation, and mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

Sepsis is rare following thyroidectomy. Our study provides insight into risk factors and procedural characteristics which may contribute to the development of postoperative sepsis or septic shock in this population.

Profiles of central nervous system surgical site infections in endoscopic transnasal surgery exposing the intradural space

OBJECTIVE

Despite its efficacy and minimal invasiveness, the clean-contaminated nature of endoscopic transnasal surgery (ETS) may be susceptible to central nervous system surgical site infections (CNS-SSIs), especially when involving intradural exposure. However, the profiles of ETS-associated CNS-SSIs are not fully elucidated.

METHODS

The institutional ETS cases performed between May 2017 and March 2023 were retrospectively analysed. The incidences of CNS-SSIs were calculated, and their risk factors examined.

RESULTS

The incidence of CNS-SSIs was 2.3% (7/305) in the entire cohort and 5.0% (7/140) in ETSs with intradural exposure. All the CNS-SSIs were meningitis and developed following ETS with intradural exposure. The incidences were 0%, 5.6% and 5.8% in ETSs with Esposito grade 1, 2 and 3 intraoperative cerebrospinal fluid leakage, respectively. Among the pre- and intra-operative factors, body mass index (unit odds ratio (OR), 0.62; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.44-0.89; P<0.01), serum albumin (unit OR, 0.03; 95% CI, 0.0007-0.92; P=0.02), and American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status score (unit OR, 20.7; 95% CI, 1.65-259; P<0.01) were significantly associated with CNS-SSIs. Moreover, postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leakage was also significantly associated with CNS-SSIs (OR, 18.4; 95% CI, 3.55-95.0; P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of ETS-associated CNS-SSIs is acceptably low. Intradural exposure was a prerequisite for CNS-SSIs. Malnutrition and poor comorbidity status should be recognized as important risks for CNS-SSIs in ETS.

Impact of Treatment with Antioxidants as an Adjuvant to Standard Therapy in Patients with Septic Shock: Analysis of the Correlation between Cytokine Storm and Oxidative Stress and Therapeutic Effects

Cellular homeostasis is lost or becomes dysfunctional during septic shock due to the activation of the inflammatory response and the deregulation of oxidative stress. Antioxidant therapy administered alongside standard treatment could restore this lost homeostasis. We included 131 patients with septic shock who were treated with standard treatment and vitamin C (Vit C), vitamin E (Vit E), N-acetylcysteine (NAC), or melatonin (MT), in a randomized trial. Organ damage quantified by Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, and we determined levels of Interleukins (IL) IL1β, Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), IL-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), Transforming growth factor B (TGFβ), IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, and Interferon-γ (IFNγ). The SOFA score decreased in patients treated with Vit C, NAC, and MT. Patients treated with MT had statistically significantly reduced of IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1, and IL-10 levels. Lipid peroxidation, Nitrates and nitrites (NO3- and NO2-), glutathione reductase, and superoxide dismutase decreased after treatment with Vit C, Vit E, NAC, and MT. The levels of thiols recovered with the use of Vit E, and all patients treated with antioxidants maintained their selenium levels, in contrast with controls (p = 0.04). The findings regarding oxidative stress markers and cytokines after treatment with antioxidants allow us to consider to future the combined use of antioxidants in a randomized clinical trial with a larger sample to demonstrate the reproducibility of these beneficial effects.

Septic Shock: Management and Outcomes

The incidence rates of sepsis and septic shock as a complication have become more common over the past several decades. With this increase, sepsis remains the most common cause of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and one of the most mortality factors, with a huge burden on healthcare facilities. Septic shock has devastating consequences on patients' lives, including organ failures and other long-term complications. Due to its dynamic clinical presentations, guidelines and tools have been established to improve the diagnosis and management effectively. However, there is still a need for evidence-based standardized procedures for the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of sepsis and septic shock patients due to the inconsistency of current guidelines and studies contrasting with each other. The standardization would help physicians better manage sepsis, minimize complications and reduce mortality. Septic shock is usually challenging to manage due to its variety of clinical characteristics and physiologic dynamics, affecting the outcomes. Therefore, this review presented the available data in the literature on septic shock diagnosis, management, and prognosis to have an overview of the updated best practice approach to septic shock.

Tree-based, two-stage risk factor analysis for postoperative sepsis based on Sepsis-3 criteria in elderly patients: A retrospective cohort study

Background

Sepsis remains the leading cause of postoperative death in elderly patients and is defined as organ dysfunction with proven or suspected infection according to Sepsis-3 criteria. To better avoid potential non-linear associations between the risk factors, we firstly used a tree-based analytic methods to explore the putative risk factors of geriatric sepsis based on the criteria in the study.

Methods

Data of 7,302 surgical patients aged ≥ 65 years at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from January 2015 to September 2020 were collected. An analytic method that combined tree-based analysis with the method of Mantel-Haenszel and logistic regression was adopted to assess the association between 17 putative risk factors and postoperative sepsis defined by the Sepsis-3 guideline by controlling 16 potential confounding factors.

Results

Among the 16 potential covariates, six major confounders were statistically identified by the tree-based model, including cerebrovascular diseases, preoperative infusion of red blood cells, pneumonia, age ≥ 75, malignant tumor and diabetes. Our analysis indicated that emergency surgery increases the risk of postoperative sepsis in elderly patients by more than six times. The type of surgery is also a crucial risk factor for sepsis, particularly transplantation and neurosurgery. Other risk factors were duration of surgery > 120 min, administration of steroids, hypoalbuminemia, elevated creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, hematocrit, platelets, glucose, white blood cell count, abnormal neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and elevated hsCRP-to-albumin ratio.

Conclusions

Our study uses an effective method to explore some risk factors for postoperative sepsis in elderly by adjusting many potential confounders and it can provide information for intervention design.

Immune, Blood Cell, and Blood Gas Biomarkers of Delirium in Elderly Individuals with Hip Fracture Surgery

BACKGROUND

Postoperative delirium in elderly people with hip fracture is associated with various adverse clinical outcomes. Nevertheless, the pathophysiological processes underpinning delirium have remained elusive.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to explore the associations between delirium and its features and immune-inflammatory and blood gas biomarkers.

METHODS

In this prospective study, we examined 65 patients who underwent a hip fracture surgery and assessed the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit, Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS), and Delirium Rating Scale Revised-98 (DRS-R-98) before and during 4 days after the surgery. Complete blood count and venous blood gas markers were obtained at the same time points.

RESULTS

Delirium was observed in 19 patients and was accompanied by significantly increased pO2, number of white blood cells, neutrophil percentage, and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, and lower mean platelet volume (MPV) after adjusting for age, central nervous system (CNS) disease, blood loss during surgery, sleep disorders, and body mass index. The severity of delirium was associated with lowered number of platelets and MPV. Psychomotor disorders were associated with lower bicarbonate levels. The requirement of physical restraint of the patients was predicted by increased percentages of neutrophils and lymphocytes. Prior CNS disease was together with these biomarkers a significant predictor of delirium and severity of delirium.

CONCLUSION

Delirium and psychomotor disorders following hip fracture and surgery may be caused by immune-inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways probably attributable to an aseptic inflammatory process.

Glycosylated Hemoglobin as a Predictor of Sepsis and All-Cause Mortality in Trauma Patients

Background and Purpose

Infection is a common comorbidity and cause of death in emergency trauma patients, especially in diabetic patients. Once the patients are admitted, they are more susceptible to further complications like sepsis and resultant increase in in-hospital mortality. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate risk factors associated with sepsis after trauma and death in trauma patients.

Methods

A total of 397 trauma patients were divided into 2 groups according to HbA1c level, HbA1c: <6.5% (n = 259), HbA1c: >6.5% (n = 138), and baseline clinical characteristics were collected. The independent risk factors of sepsis associated with trauma were screened using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to investigate risk factors for 30-day all-cause mortality.

Results

The sepsis incidence (76.1% vs 35.9%, P<0.001) and mortality rate (29.7% vs 7.3%, P<0.001) were significantly higher in HbA1c>6.5% group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the independent risk factors of sepsis after trauma were diabetes (OR: 3.1, 95% CI: 1.41–6.79), hypertension (OR: 2.55, 95% CI: 1.35–4.82), coagulation disorder (OR: 3.45, 95% CI: 1.23–9.67), creatinine (OR: 3.71, 95% CI: 1.66–8.31), urea nitrogen (OR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.92–0.99), HbA1c%>6.5 (OR: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.65–2.54), increase in body mass index (OR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.03–1.13) and lower initial GCS score (OR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.88–0.99). Multivariable Cox proportional hazard analysis revealed that male (HR: 1.94, 95% CI: 1.21–3.12), HbA1c >6.5% (HR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.32–1.6), albumin (HR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.34–0.86), creatinine (HR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01–1.03), APTT (HR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01–1.03), SOFA score (HR: 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1–1.31), age >65 years (HR: 3.21, 95% CI: 1.95–5.3) were independent risk factor for trauma patients’ mortality.

Conclusion

The prevalence of sepsis and mortality was higher in trauma patients with HbA1c >6.5%. HbA1c was independent risk factor for sepsis and all cases of mortality in trauma patients.

A Point-Based Risk Calculator Predicting Mortality in Patients That Developed Postoperative Sepsis

Background:

Predicting the mortality from post-operative sepsis remains a continuing problem. We built a statistical model using national data to predict mortality in patients who developed post-operative sepsis.

Methods:

This is a retrospective study using the American College of Surgeons National Quality Surgical Improvement Program database, in which we gathered data from adult patients between 2011 and 2016 who experienced postoperative sepsis. We designed a predictive model using multivariable logistic regression on a training set and validated the model on a separate test set.

Results:

There were 128,325 patients included in the final dataset, in which 18,499 (14.4%) died within 30-days of surgery. The model consisted of 10 covariates: American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status classification score, preoperative sepsis, age, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, postoperative myocardial infarction, postoperative stroke, postoperative acute renal failure, transfusion requirement, and infection type. A point-based risk calculator was developed, which had an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.819 (95% confidence interval 0.814-0.823).

Conclusion:

Although further work is needed to confirm and validate our model on external datasets, our scoring system provides a novel way to measure mortality in septic post-operative patients.

Sepsis in surgical inpatients: under-recognised but with significant consequences

BACKGROUND

The true incidence of sepsis in surgical cohorts in Ireland remains unclear. According to inpatient audits, patients in surgical diagnostic groups (DRG) who developed sepsis had a longer length of stay and higher mortality rate compared with medical DRG patients who developed sepsis.

AIMS

We investigated sepsis incidence on a general surgical ward to identify risk factors and strategies to improve management.

METHODS

Demographics, admission and discharge details, infection risk factors, infection, and sepsis were studied prospectively on a surgical ward in July 2018.

RESULTS

The mean age of 164 patients was 60.5 years (range 18-93 years), 107 (65.2%) were admitted electively, 16 (9.8%) were colonised with a multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO), and 30 (18.3%) were classified as frail on admission. Twelve (7.3%) developed sepsis (ward sepsis rate 118.2/10,000 bed days used). 'Sepsis' was documented in six cases and the national sepsis screening form used in four patients. Patients with sepsis were three times as likely to be MDRO-colonised (OR 3.56; 95% CI = 0.86-14.82; p = 0.065) or frail (OR 3.63; 95% CI = 1.07-12.35; p = 0.03), four times as likely to be an inpatient at the end of the study (OR 4.22, 96% CI 1.23-14.49; p = 0.01), and three times as likely to be readmitted (OR 3.46, 95% CI 1.02-11.76; p = 0.03).

CONCLUSION

Sepsis was under-documented, and barriers exist with use of the national sepsis screening form. Frailty, which is a sepsis risk factor, should be assessed pre-operatively to maximise prevention.

A Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Hospital Mortality in Patients With Postoperative Sepsis

Introduction: The incidence of postoperative sepsis is continually increased, while few studies have specifically focused on the risk factors and clinical outcomes associated with the development of sepsis after surgical procedures. The present study aimed to develop a mathematical model for predicting the in-hospital mortality among patients with postoperative sepsis. Materials and Methods: Surgical patients in Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC-III) database who simultaneously fulfilled Sepsis 3.0 and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) criteria at ICU admission were incorporated. We employed both extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) and stepwise logistic regression model to predict the in-hospital mortality among patients with postoperative sepsis. Consequently, the model performance was assessed from the angles of discrimination and calibration. Results: We included 3,713 patients who fulfilled our inclusion criteria, in which 397 (10.7%) patients died during hospitalization, and 3,316 (89.3%) patients survived through discharge. Fluid-electrolyte disturbance, coagulopathy, renal replacement therapy (RRT), urine output, and cardiovascular surgery were important features related to the in-hospital mortality. The XGBoost model had a better performance in both discriminatory ability (c-statistics, 0.835 vs. 0.737 and 0.621, respectively; AUPRC, 0.418 vs. 0.280 and 0.237, respectively) and goodness of fit (visualized by calibration curve) compared to the stepwise logistic regression model and baseline model. Conclusion: XGBoost model has a better performance in predicting hospital mortality among patients with postoperative sepsis in comparison to the stepwise logistic regression model. Machine learning-based algorithm might have significant application in the development of early warning system for septic patients following major operations.

Nomograms Predicting the Occurrence of Sepsis in Patients following Major Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery

Purpose

Sepsis is a severe complication in patients following major hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a nomogram based on inflammation biomarkers and clinical characteristics.

Methods

Patients who underwent major hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery between June 2015 and April 2017 were retrospectively collected. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify the independent risk factors associated with postoperative sepsis. A training cohort of 522 patients in an earlier period was used to develop the prediction models, and a validation cohort of 136 patients thereafter was used to validate the nomograms.

Results

Sepsis developed in 55 of 522 patients of the training cohort and 19 of 136 patients in the validation cohort, respectively. In the training cohort, one nomogram based on clinical characteristics was developed. The clinical independent risk factors for postoperative sepsis include perioperative blood transfusion, diabetes, operative time, direct bilirubin, and BMI. Another nomogram was based on both clinical characteristics and inflammation biomarkers. Multivariate regression analyses showed that previous clinical risk factors, PCT, and CRP were independent risk factors for postoperative sepsis. The last nomogram showed a good C-index of 0.844 (95% CI, 0.787-0.900) compared with the previous one of 0.777 (95% CI, 0.713-0.840). Patients with a total score more than 109 in the second model are at high risk. The positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the second nomogram were 27% and 97%, respectively.

Conclusion

The nomogram achieved good performances for predicting postoperative sepsis in patients by combining clinical and inflammation risk factors. This model can provide the early risk estimation of sepsis for patients following major hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery.

Sepsis after elective neurosurgery: Incidence, outcomes, and predictive factors

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition resulting from systemic infection, with mortality rates approaching 30%. Most neurological surgeries are now performed electively, which permits medical optimization preoperatively. We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of 122,466 adult elective neurosurgical patients from 2012 to 2018 in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. To select for a medically optimized population, patients were included if they arrived from home on the day of surgery, were not pregnant or puerperium, and had no documented evidence of preexisting infection. We analyzed demographic, comorbidity, and operative information; performed multivariate logistic regression to explore factors predictive of postoperative sepsis; and evaluated outcomes for patients who developed sepsis. Overall, 0.87% of patients developed postoperative sepsis (n = 1,067). The rate of sepsis was higher in the cranial subpopulation (1.21%; n = 330) and lower in the spinal subpopulation (0.77%; n = 733). The overall sepsis cohort was older, had more males, was more functionally dependent, had longer operation durations, and had higher rates of medical comorbidities. Minority race and smoking were not associated with sepsis. The sepsis cohort fared worse than the control cohort across all outcome measures, including prolonged length-of-stay (≥90^th percentile), discharge anywhere but home, 30-day readmission, 30-day reoperation, and 30-day mortality. Results for the cranial and spine subpopulations follow similar trends. In summary, sepsis in the elective neurosurgical population is an uncommon but devastating cause of excess morbidity and mortality.