Introduction:

The rate of postoperative infectious complications rises in the surgical patient, among other reasons, frequently due to insufficient knowledge about the genesis of the factors that cause them. A documentary review on the subject was carried out during 2020-2021. The Web of Science, PubMed, Medline, Cochrane, SciElo databases were consulted, as well as the academic Google search engine. There were selected 32 articles in English and Spanish.

Objective:

To analyse the fundamental aspects concerning the genesis of postoperative infections.

Development:

Surgical site infections constitute 25 % of those associated with health care. Despite all the measures for its prevention, its disappearance has not been achieved, which entails high morbidity, increased costs of hospitalization, hospital stay and use of the latest generation of antibiotics. This can be explained by the appearance of microorganisms resistant to antibiotics and the increase in surgical patients of advanced age and immunosuppressed by associated diseases, including those transplanted, with grafts or prostheses.

Conclusions:

The microorganisms that cause postoperative infections predominantly belong to the microbiota present at the incision site. The factors of the patient, the surgical technique and those related to hospitalization play important roles in its appearance.

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