21 Jun 2024 • According to a latest study povidone iodine in alcohol can be used as an effective preoperative skin antisepsis for cardiac and abdominal surgery.

• A study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of povidone-iodine in alcohol versus chlorhexidine gluconate in alcohol in preventing surgical site infections (SSIs) after cardiac or abdominal surgery.

• The study involved 3 tertiary care hospitals in Switzerland and enrolled a total of 3360 patients. Over 18 months, the study sites were randomly assigned each month to either povidone iodine or chlorhexidine gluconate. The primary outcome was the occurrence of SSIs within 30 days after abdominal surgery and within 1 year after cardiac surgery.

• The results showed that povidone-iodine caused SSIs in 5.1% of people and the incidence of SSIs in the chlorhexidine gluconate group was 5.5%. The unadjusted relative risk for povidone iodine vs chlorhexidine gluconate was 0.92. The SSI rate in cardiac surgery was povidone iodine 4.2% vs chlorhexidine gluconate 3.3% and the SSI rate in abdominal surgery was povidone iodine 6.8% vs chlorhexidine gluconate 9.9%.

Source:JAMA| Read full story