Aim. To investigate the effect of intraoperative wound irrigation with povidone-iodine on surgical site infection. Methods. Data were collected prospectively for all cases of instrumented thoracic and lumbar spine surgery undertaken by the senior author (DB) from 01/10/2008 to 1/10/2010. Variables recorded included patient factors (age, co-morbidities, drug history) and operative factors (type of operation, duration of operation, elective/emergency, in hours/out of hours, consultant/junior, perioperative antibiotic administration). Routine povidone-iodine application commenced on 1/06/2009. Surgical site infection was defined as wound infection confirmed on wound swab or blood cultures. Comparison was made between patients receiving povidone-iodine intraoperative wound irrigation and those who did not using Fisher's exact test. Results. Data from 91 consecutive patients who had undergone instrumented thoracic or lumbar fusions under the care of the senior author were analysed. Mean age was 58.0±16.9 years. There was no difference in age (Mean±SD) between those receiving povidone-iodine (59.1 ±16.9y) and those without povidone-iodine administration (55.3 ±16.9) (p=0.33). The number of wound infections was significantly reduced from 19% (5/26) in those without povidone-iodine to 0% (0/65) in those with application of povidone-iodine (p=0.001, Fisher's exact). Conclusion. Intraoperative povidone-iodine irrigation appears to be an effective method of reducing SSIs in instrumented spinal fixation surgery

Aims

The aim of this study was to determine whether the sequential application of povidone iodine-alcohol (PVI) followed by chlorhexidine gluconate-alcohol (CHG) would reduce surgical wound contamination to a greater extent than PVI applied twice in patients undergoing spinal surgery.