Surgical site infection after delayed sternal closure in neonates with congenital heart disease: retrospective case-control study

Objectives To determine the prevalence of surgical site infections (SSIs) in neonatal congenital heart disease patients undergoing delayed sternal closure (DSC) and evaluate risk factors for SSI. Methods Hospital records of 483 consecutive neonates who underwent surgical intervention between January 2013 and December 2017 were reviewed, and perioperative variables were recorded. Results We found that the prevalence of SSI was 87.5% when the body weight was less than 1500 g. When the operative age was between seven and 14 days, the probability of no SSI is about 93.9%. When the duration of the aortic cross-clamp was more than 60 min, the prevalence of SSI was 91.2%. The prevalence without SSI was 96.6% when the duration of DSC was less than 24 h. However, when the duration of DSC was more than 120 h, the prevalence of SSI was 88.9% ( p = 0.000). Conclusions With the prolongation of aortic clamping duration, the probability of occurrence of SSI increased in neonatal CHD with DSC. The age at operation and body weight are closely related to the occurrence of SSI in neonatal CHD patients with DSC.