Efficacy Study of Antiseptic Preoperative Scrubs in Prevention of Postoperative Infections

Summary

Most cases of infection of clean-contaminated wounds (wounds without gross spillage of organisms from the gastrointestinal tract) are thought to originate from the skin. Therefore, it is conceivable that application of an optimal antiseptic agent can reduce the rate of surgical wound infections. This trial is to compare the impact of disinfecting the skin with Chloraprep (2%chlorhexidine and 70% isopropyl alcohol) vs. Betadine on the rates of infection of clean-contaminated surgical wounds. The study will also assess the occurrence of adverse effects on the skin from either antiseptic agent and the cost-savings associated with the use of Chloraprep vs Betadine.

Timeline

Start

2003-09

Primary completion

2008-05

Completion

2008-05

Outcome

Met primary endpoint

registry Povidone-Iodine vs Chlorhexidine-Alcohol; p = 0.004; Relative Risk 0.59 (95% CI 0.41 to 0.85) NCT00290290 ↗

paper The overall rate of surgical-site infection was significantly lower in the chlorhexidine-alcohol group than in the povidone-iodine group (9.5% vs. 16.1%; P=0.004; PMID 20054046 ↗

Publications

• Darouiche RO, Wall MJ Jr, Itani KM, Otterson MF, Webb AL, Carrick MM, Miller HJ, Awad SS, Crosby CT, Mosier MC, Alsharif A, Berger DH. Chlorhexidine-Alcohol versus Povidone-Iodine for Surgical-Site Antisepsis. N Engl J Med. 2010 Jan 7;362(1):18-26. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0810988.

Drugs

Evaluation	Drug	Modality	Dose	Route
Subject	Chlorhexidine-alcohol	Unknown	—	—
Comparator	Povidone-Iodine	Other / unclassified	—	—

Indications

No indication recorded.