Abstract
We reviewed with concern the article by Apelt et al. [ [1] Aplet N. Schaffzin J. Bates C. et al. Surgical site infection related to use of elastomeric pumps in pectus excavatum repair. Lessons learned from root cause analysis. J Pediatr Surg. 2017; 52: 1292-1295 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar ]. They report their root cause analysis of increased surgical site infections after their pectus repairs. From a scientific standpoint, reporting a root cause analysis as a “study” severely jeopardizes equipoise as an increased rate of complication is known a priori. In 21 cases, they experienced 6 (29%) infections. This would be the single highest infectious complication rate reported in the pectus literature, and inconsistent with prior publications. Elastomeric pumps were used in 11 of these cases with 6 patients (55%) incurring postoperative infections. They discontinued use due to concerns with the association of the subcutaneous catheters and postoperative infections and attributed to the use of elastomeric pumps.
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