Prevention of Cesarean Delivery Surgical Site Infections.

IMPORTANCE: Surgical site infection (SSI) is a common complication of cesarean delivery. Seen in up to 12% of cesarean deliveries, it is a major cause of prolonged hospital stay and a burden to the healthcare system. Interventions and techniques must be identified to decrease the risk of cesarean delivery SSIs.

OBJECTIVE: We review the categories of SSI, current studies that have focused on various interventions to decrease SSI, and preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative recommendations for cesarean delivery SSI prevention.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A thorough search of PubMed for all current literature was performed. Various surgical interventions and techniques were reviewed. We included studies that looked at preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative interventions for SSI prevention.

RESULTS: We have summarized several surgical interventions and techniques as well as current consensus statements to aid the practitioner in preventing SSIs after cesarean delivery.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Upon analysis of current data and consensus statements pertaining to cesarean deliveries, there are certain preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative interventions and techniques that can be recommended to decrease the risk of cesarean delivery SSI.