The risk of surgical site infection for hand trauma surgery performed outside main theatres: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Increasing pressure on healthcare systems and limited emergency operating capacity has reduced the availability of main theatres for hand trauma surgery. This has led to an increase in hand trauma surgery performed outside the main theatre (OMT). Data on the risk of surgical site infection (SSI) in the OMT setting for hand trauma are limited. This systematic review and meta-analysis summarize the risk of SSI for hand trauma surgery in this setting. We included seven studies involving 1635 patients. The meta-analysis suggests an SSI risk of 2.8%, which is a lower estimate than the overall risk of SSI in hand trauma surgery. Hand trauma surgery performed OMT is not associated with an increased risk of SSI compared with existing summary estimates. This supports recent guidelines from the British Society for Surgery of the Hand, and Getting It Right First Time programme.