The Catalan Cancer Plan (CCP) undertakes periodic audits of cancer treatment outcomes, including organ/space surgical site infections (O/S-SSI) rates, while the Catalan Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance Programme (VINCat) carries out standardized prospective surveillance of surgical site infections (SSIs) in colorectal surgery. This cohort study aimed to assess the concordance between these two monitoring systems for O/S-SSI following primary rectal cancer surgery.

The healthcare system in Catalonia (Spain) monitors and reports SSI in cancer patients through two principal mechanisms. First of all, the Catalan Cancer Plan (CCP) is a Health Department structure that aims to improve the quality of care for cancer patients by means of periodic auditing of outcomes with real-world data and feedback to professionals. One indicator included in these compulsory audits is the occurrence of O/S-SSI.

On the other hand, the Catalan Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance Programme (VINCat) is a nationwide network for hospital-acquired infections (HAI) which conducts surveillance in colorectal surgery.

The two systems thus operate with an important difference: the CCP audits are mandatory and cover all cancer surgeries performed in centres funded through the public healthcare system, while VINCat is a voluntary registry programme among participating centres. The selected cases and methods used to detect O/S-SSI may therefore vary substantially between auditing systems.

This retrospective population-based cohort study aims to assess the concordance between clinical audits of the CCP and the VINCat registry as a preliminary step to studies correlating local recurrence after rectal cancer surgery and O/S-SSI.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients > 18 years old
• Eligible patients with tumour ≤ 13 cm from anal verge, as measured by Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Primary adenocarcinoma
• Oncological resection with curative intent
• Cancer stages: I-II-III

Exclusion Criteria:

• Transanal local resection
• Emergency colorectal surgeries
• Presence of metastases found in the diagnostic process or during the surgical procedure
• Recurrence of the disease treated before the study period
• Non-resectable tumour or palliative surgery
• Patients operated in private centres

Patients operated on rectal surgery for rectal cancer in Catalonia, Spain.

: Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which belong to two national databases and are not publicly available. Data was obtained from the Catalan Cancer Plan and VINCat, and are only available with the permission of their Technical Committees.