Effective Preoperative Antisepsis

A study evaluated the effectiveness of povidone iodine in alcohol compared to chlorhexidine gluconate in alcohol for preoperative skin antisepsis, aiming to prevent surgical site infections (SSIs). Conducted at three Swiss tertiary care hospitals, the trial enrolled over 3,360 patients undergoing either cardiac or abdominal surgery. Results indicated that 0.1% of patients in the povidone iodine group developed SSIs compared to 5.5% in the chlorhexidine group, demonstrating the non-inferiority of povidone iodine treatment. The findings emphasize the importance of randomized clinical trials in enhancing surgical practices and suggest a need for further studies in global surgical settings.