Objective  To analyze the distribution of pathogenic bacteria and drug resistance in patients with postoperative nosocomial infections in Department of Thoracic Surgery.

  Methods  The Chinese literatures about the detection of pathogenic bacteria or drug sensitivity test for postoperative nosocomial infection in patients with thoracic surgery published in recent 10 years were searched in CNKI database, Wanfang database and other relevant databases, and the relevant materials and data of the patients involved in literatures were screened and analyzed.

  Results  A total of 22 qualified literatures were included in this study. Among 12 938 cases with thoracic surgery, postoperative infections occurred in 2 562 cases, and the most frequently involved infection site was respiratory system. Totally 3 157 strains of pathogenic bacteria were detected, including 2 230 strains of Gram-negative bacteria (70.64%) with the top two strains of pseudomonas aeruginosa (19.90%) and klebsiella pneumoniae (15.68%), 749 strains of Gram-positive bacteria (23.73%) with the top two strains of staphylococcus aureus (9.72%) and enterococcus (4.53%), and 178 strains of fungi (5.64%). The results of drug sensitivity test showed that Gram-negative bacteria had good sensitivity to amikacin, imipenem and other antibiotics, and were generally resistant to sulfonamides, while Gram-positive bacteria had good sensitivity to sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim and vancomycin, and were generally resistant to penicillin and cephalosporin.

  Conclusion  Gram-negative bacteria are the main pathogen of postoperative infections in Department of Thoracic Surgery, and fungal infection should not be ignored. In clinical practice, we should choose appropriate antibiotics according to the results of bacterial culture and drug sensitivity test.