Q: My sister-in-law is 33 years old and underwent a total hysterectomy as she had malignant cancer. It has been two years now but there is pus oozing out of her stitches. Her stitches have been removed and new stitches put twice. What is the reason for this?

A:She probably has a chronic infection in the stitches. This situation tends to occur more often where healing is poor, such as in various cancers. If this is causing significant discomfort, she may require a thorough exploration of the wound under general anaesthesia.