Comparing the efficacy of povidone-iodine and normal saline in incisional wound irrigation to prevent superficial surgical site infection: a randomized clinical trial in gastric surgery

Background: Prevention of surgical site infection (SSI) after gastrectomy has received increasing attention. Prophylactic incisional wound irrigation has been advocated to reduce SSI, but the choice of solution remains under debate.Aims: To compare the efficacies of wound irrigation with normal saline (NS) and povidone-iodine (PVI) for the prevention of SSI after gastrectomy, and to identify the risk factors for SSI.Methods: This randomized, single-centre clinical trial included 340 patients with gastric cancer. They were assigned at random into two groups (ratio 1:1) to receive either 0.9% NS or 1.0% PVI solution for incisional irrigation before wound closure. The primary endpoint was postoperative SSI within 30 days of gastrectomy, and the secondary endpoint was the length of hospital stay.Findings: In total, 333 patients were included in the modified intent-to-treat group, and the SSI rate did not differ significantly between the PVI group (11/167, 6.59%) and the NS group (9/166, 5.42%) [odds ratio (OR) 1.131, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.459-3.712; P=0.655]. Moreover, the difference between the two groups in terms of length of hospital stay was not significant (P=0.301). Body mass index (BMI) (OR 2.639, 95% CI 1.040-6.694; P=0.041) and postoperative complications (OR 2.565, 95% CI 1.023-6.431; P=0.045) were identified as independent risk factors for SSI.Conclusions: NS and PVI had similar efficacy as prophylactic wound irrigation for the prevention of SSI after gastrectomy. The risk of SSI was higher in patients with high BMI or postoperative complications. & COPY; 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Healthcare Infection Society.

Automated summary

This study compared the efficacy of wound irrigation with normal saline (NS) and povidone-iodine (PVI) for the prevention of surgical site infection (SSI) after gastrectomy and found that both solutions had similar efficacy. High body mass index (BMI) and postoperative complications were identified as independent risk factors for SSI.