Metrics details. Skin and soft-tissue infections SSTIs encompass a variety of pathological conditions that involve the skin and underlying subcutaneous tissue, fascia, or muscle, ranging from simple superficial infections to severe necrotizing infections.
SSTIs are a frequent clinical problem in surgical departments. The multifaceted nature of these infections has led to a collaboration among general and emergency surgeons, intensivists, and infectious disease specialists, who have shared these clinical practice recommendations.
SSTIs may affect any part of the body and are a frequent clinical problem in surgical departments [ 1 , 2 ]. Successful management of patients with severe SSTIs involves prompt recognition, appropriate antibiotic therapy, timely surgical debridement or drainage, and resuscitation when required.
Several critical issues have been debated in the management of these patients. During the consensus conference, 17 panelists presented the statements developed for each of the main questions regarding the diagnosis and management of SSTIs.
An agreement on all the statements was reached. The expert panel met via email to prepare and revise the consensus paper resulting from the meeting. The manuscript was successively reviewed by all members and ultimately revised as the present manuscript. This document represents the executive summary of the consensus conference which outlines clinical recommendations based on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation GRADE hierarchy criteria summarized in Table 1 [ 3 ].
