Does preoperative nephrostomy increase the incidence of wound infection after nephrectomy?
OBJECTIVES: To determine whether patients with nephrostomy after simple nephrectomy more often had postoperative wound complication than did matched patients without nephrostomy. METHODS: The hospital records of patients who underwent retroperitoneal simple nephrectomy were evaluated, and the following data were retrieved: age, indication for nephrectomy and nephrostomy insertion, medical history, urine culture, antibiotic regimen, time elapsed from nephrostomy insertion to nephrectomy, surgical technique, type of complication, time elapsed from surgery to complication, treatment, and outcome of complications. RESULTS: Thirty-one patients (mean age 57.9 years, +/-SE 3.0) were evaluated. Seven (31.8%) of the 22 patients without nephrostomy (group 1 ) had wound infection compared with 7 (77.7%) of the 9 patients with nephrostomy (group 2) (P <0.05). All 9 group 2 patients had infected urine compared with 11 of the 22 in group 1 (P <0.05). Complications were apparent within a median time
