To test the hypothesis that surface skin swabs taken after skin preparation with alcoholic povidone iodine (APVPI) would not grow bacteria, whereas full thickness biopsies taken from the line of surgical incision would grow bacteria. Informed consent was obtained from 44 patients undergoing primary hip (n=13) and knee (n=31) arthroplasty. Each received antimicrobial prophylaxis before skin preparation with APVPI under laminar flow. After the APVPI had dried, a skin swab and a full thickness 8mm x 4mm elliptical skin biopsy were taken from the line of incision. The skin swab was rolled in 5mL anaerobe basal broth to inactivate the APVPI, incubated at 37 degrees and checked for growth for 2 weeks. One half of the skin biopsy was snap frozen and used for gram and nitroblue tetrazolium staining. The other half was placed into 5mL of anaerobe basal broth, incubated at 37 degrees and monitored for growth for 2 weeks.Aim
Method
