Recently, Yang Tian et al. from Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital published a clinical paper “Risk factor analysis of surgical site infections after hepatectomy” in the International Journal of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. The aim of the study was to investigate the independent factors affecting the incidence of surgical site infections after hepatectomy, to provide guidance for reducing the incidence of surgical site infections, and to provide hepatobiliary surgeons with more practical references and theoretical basis, which will help to improve the perioperative quality of hepatectomy, and ultimately benefit the patients. The large single-center study identified high-risk groups for surgical site infections after hepatectomy, such as patients with obesity, diabetes mellitus, cirrhosis, and intrahepatic bile duct stones; in addition, shortening the number of days of postoperative abdominal drainage tubes as much as possible, as well as avoiding intraoperative transfusion, will help to reduce the incidence of postoperative surgical site infections after hepatectomy. It is well known that the techniques of hepatic resection have now matured and the perioperative mortality has been greatly reduced. Hepatic resection is no longer satisfied with safety alone, but is constantly improving toward faster postoperative recovery, shorter hospitalization, less surgical expense, and a smoother postoperative recovery process. However, the incidence of postoperative complications after hepatectomy remains high (30%-45%), with surgical site infections being the most common (two main categories are incisional infections and organ/lumen infections, where incisional infections include superficial and deep infections, and organ/lumen infections for hepatectomy are hepatic trauma, subdiaphragmatic infections, and perihepatic and intra-abdominal infections), and its presence can lead to prolonged hospitalization, increased treatment costs, and aggravated perioperative pain in patients, which seriously affects the quality of care. This study included 7388 patients with a mean age of 55.8 years who underwent hepatectomy at the Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital between 2011 and 2012, of whom 9.6% had a history of previous hepatectomy, and the vast majority of whom had a preoperative liver function Child grade of A. The majority of patients had a preoperative liver function Child grade of A. Among the diseases of the hepatobiliary system suffered by the patients, most of them were hepatobiliary malignant tumors, more than 80%, of which the most common was hepatocellular carcinoma with 5174 cases, followed by intrahepatic cholangiocellular carcinoma with 284 cases; while among the benign diseases of the hepatobiliary system, the most common was cavernous hemangioma of the liver with 548 cases, followed by intrahepatic cholangiocarbursts with 498 cases. The results showed that the overall incidence of surgical site infections, the incidence of surgical incision infections and the incidence of organ/lumen infections after hepatectomy in this center were 9.4%, 5.5% and 4.9%, respectively, which were close to the data reported in most of the previous studies. The median time to diagnosis of surgical site infection was 7 days from surgery. The mean number of days of postoperative hospitalization for patients who developed surgical site infections was 13.6 days compared to only 7.2 days for those who did not, which is a statistically significant difference, suggesting that the development of surgical site infections does result in a significantly longer hospital stay. A multifactorial regression analysis concluded that the independent risk factors contributing to the overall incidence of surgical site infections were obesity, diabetes mellitus, ASA classification ≥2, cirrhosis, previous history of hepatic resection, patients suffering from intrahepatic choledocholithiasis, and abdominal drains left in place for more than 5 days and intraoperative transfusion, while those for surgical incision infections included obesity, diabetes mellitus, preoperative hypoproteinemia, and the independent risk factors for surgical incision infections included obesity, diabetes mellitus, preoperative hypoproteinemia, cirrhosis, preoperative hypoproteinemia, history of previous hepatectomy, intrahepatic bile duct stones, and intraoperative blood transfusion; furthermore, independent risk factors for organ/lumen infections included ASA grade ≥2, cirrhosis, intrahepatic bile duct stones, intraoperative blood transfusion, abdominal drain placement for more than 5 days, and postoperative bile leakage. The significance of this study is as follows: first, it confirms that patients with a history of hepatic resection are prone to postoperative surgical incision infections and need to be more careful in perioperative preparation and management. Second, patients who are obese or diabetic are more likely to develop surgical incision infections after hepatectomy, and dressing changes should be intensified in this high-risk group. Third, our study confirms that ASA grade ≥2 is an independent risk factor for developing organ/lumen infections after hepatectomy, so enhanced monitoring and perioperative management are more appropriate for patients in poorer physical condition. Fourth, this study demonstrated for the first time that cirrhosis is an independent risk factor for surgical incision infections and organ/lumen infections after hepatectomy, so patients with coexisting cirrhosis who undergo hepatectomy need to be vigilant for the occurrence of surgical site infections. Fifth, the study also confirmed that patients undergoing hepatectomy for intrahepatic bile duct stones are more likely to develop surgical incision infections and organ/lumen infections than patients with other hepatobiliary diseases. This hypothesis, which is widely shared by surgeons, was finally confirmed for the first time in this study, which has not been studied by formal statistical methods in the national and international literature. Sixth, the study also identified postoperative bile leakage as one of the independent risk factors for organ/lumen infections after hepatectomy, which is consistent with previous reports in the literature. Seventh, there was an independent correlation between intraoperative blood transfusion and the occurrence of both surgical incision infections and organ/lumen infections after hepatectomy, so how to effectively reduce intraoperative bleeding and avoid intraoperative blood transfusion is one of the effective measures to reduce the incidence of concurrent surgical site infections after hepatectomy. Finally, this study also showed that postoperative abdominal drains placed for more than 5 days were significantly associated with both concurrent surgical incision infections and organ/lumen infections after hepatectomy. Therefore, prolonged drain placement should be avoided as much as possible, thereby avoiding the increased risk of retrograde infection via the drain or contamination of subcutaneous tissue at the site of the drain, and thus reducing the likelihood of surgical site infections.