A 20-year old patient underwent open hernia surgery four days back

A 20-year old patient underwent open hernia surgery four days back. He’s running fever for the last one day and on local examination the operated site was wet with pus and redness and oedema. Appropriate management would be?

A. Opening sutures and cleaning of wound

B. Sending pus for C/S

What should be done first here?

In the given scenario, it is important to prioritize the immediate management of the surgical site infection. The appropriate management would be:

A. Opening sutures and cleaning of the wound.

The presence of pus, redness, and edema at the surgical site, along with the patient running a fever, suggests a localized infection. To prevent further complications and aid in the healing process, it is necessary to address the infection promptly. Opening the sutures and cleaning the wound will allow proper drainage of the pus and facilitate the removal of infected material.

Once the wound has been cleaned, appropriate measures should be taken, such as sending the collected pus for culture and sensitivity (C/S) testing. This will help identify the causative microorganism and determine the most effective antibiotic treatment. However, in this case, the immediate action should be to clean the wound to prevent the infection from worsening and to provide symptomatic relief to the patient.