Editorial: Surgical Infections

Surgical infections represent a common and serious problem in everyday clinical practice. Surgical site infections, after elective or emergency gastrointestinal or vascular operations, is a commonly encountered problem associated with considerable morbidity and mortality in the surgical patient (1, 2). In addition, idiopathic necrotic infections, such as necrotizing fasciitis, carry high mortality rates if surgery is delayed (3). Therefore, we decided to create a Research Topic dealing with this peculiar clinical problem. Since this is just the beginning, the published articles, so far, cannot cover all aspects of this Topic, i.e., biology, mechanisms, prevention and treatment of surgery-related infections. This Research Topic contains articles, originating from Greece, which cover several aspects of surgical infections. The first article is a commentary on the article (4). In this commentery, titled “Commentary: Evidence for Replacement of an Infected Synthetic by a Biological Mesh in Abdominal Wall Hernia Repair” and written by Tampaki et al., 2017, the authors state that the use of biological mesh in difficult hernias with infected mesh seems to be of clinical benefit. However, the increased expenses associated with its use cannot be fully justified, as there is not sufficient evidence from randomized trials proving their advantages. The second article is also a commentary but on (5). This commentary titled, “Commentary: Hernia, Mesh, and Topical Antibiotics, Especially Gentamycin: Seeking the Evidence for the Perfect Outcome...” is also written by Tampaki et al., 2017, from the Univerity of Athens. The aim of this paper is to study the impact of prophylactic use of topical antibiotics, especially gentamycin, in hernia repair with mesh. The authors agree with Dr. Kulacoglou that gentamycin empirically used as monotherapy in hernia repair with mesh may be beneficial in patients with compromised immune status, such as advanced age, chemotherapy, comorbidities, long duration of operation, etc. They conclude that prophylactic use of antibiotics in the nosocomial environment may help reducing surgical site infections in clean surgeries, such as hernia repair with mesh, but one should take into account the existing increased antibiotic resistance rates. In the third paper, “Fournier’s Gangrene: Lessons Learned from Multimodal and Multidisciplinary Management of Perineal Necrotizing Fasciitis” by Ioannidis et al., 2017, the authors present their experience in the management of a potentially lethal disease, Fournier’s gangrene, in a University Surgical Depertment, in Thessaloniki, Greece. They analyze the clinical, laboratory data, comorbidities, bacterial cultures, management, complications, and clinical outcome of 20 patients who had been treated surgically in their center for perineal necrotizing fasciitis. They also underline the importance of aggressive surgical debridement in the management of this challenging condition. In the fourth paper, “Aortic Graft Infection: Graphene Shows the Way to an Infection-Resistant Vascular Graft” by Patelis et al., 2017, from the University of Athens, the authors analyze the unique characteristics of graphene, a two-dimensional material used in aortic reconstruction. Due to its bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects, graphene may resolve the problem of aortic graft infections in Edited and reviewed by: