Management of Infection in the Surgical Patient.

While surgical infections are seemingly a heterogeneous group of disease entities, there are several common features that permit a general approach to their diagnosis and management. These properties include: the polymicrobial nature of the flora in most infections, the association of the infection with some underlying pathological process, and appropriate treatment often includes both broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapy and some surgical or radiological intervention to promote eradication of the infection. For the purpose of this review, intra-abdominal infection will be used as the prototypical surgical infection because it embodies many of the general features of most infections.