Abstract
Background: One of the most frequent infections associated with healthcare is surgical Site Infection (SSI). Preoperative skin antisepsis is one of the important method to minimize the prevalence of SSIs. Chlorhexidine alcohol (CHA) and povidone iodine (PI) are two of the widely active materials as a skin antiseptic. This study compared the efficacy of CHA 2.5% with PI 10% for preventing SSIs in elective laparoscopic cholecystecomies.
Methods: This prospective controlled randomized study has been performed on 200 patients underwent elective laparoscopic cholecystectomies. Patients have been randomized into two equal groups, according to the anti-septic used for cleaning skin before surgery, group C (chlorhexidine 2.5% in 70% ethanol) or group P (PI aqueous 10%).
Results: Superficial SSIs in group C was significantly lower (4%) in comparison to group P (13%) (P = 0.04). No cases was presented with seroma or deep SSIs in both groups.
Conclusion: For preventing of superficial SSI, CHA is more effective than PI when applied before laparoscopic cholecystecomy.