Predictive perioperative factors for developing severe sepsis after major surgery

Background. Early identification of high-risk patients undergoing major surgery can result in an aggressive management affecting the outcome. Methods. We designed a prospective cohort study of 93 adult patients undergoing major oncological surgery to identify the predictive risk factors for developing postoperative severe sepsis. Results. Nineteen of 93 patients developed a severe sepsis after surgery; seven of the septic patients died in intensive care unit. Multivariate analysis discriminated preoperative and postoperative (first and second day after surgery) predictive risk factors. The postoperative severe sepsis was independently associated with preoperative factors like male gender (OR 4.7, 95% CI between 1.5 and 15.5, P < 0.01) and Charlson co-morbidity index (OR 1.3, 95% CI between 1.07 and 1.6, P < 0.01). After the surgery, the presence of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (OR 4.0, 95% CI between 1.02 and 15.7, P < 0.05) and a logistic organ dysfunction score on day 2 (OR 3.3, 95% CI between 1.9 and 5.7, P < 0.001) were found as independent predictive factors. Conclusion. We have shown that some of the markers that can be easily collected in the preoperative or postoperative visits can be used to screen the patients at high risk for developing severe sepsis after major surgery.