Prevention of post-operative infections in spine surgery by wound irrigation with a solution of povidone-iodine and hydrogen peroxide

Starting from January 2009, we systematically irrigated the surgical wounds of patients undergoing spine surgery with a solution of povidone-iodine (PVP-I) and hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). We prospectively recorded the clinical data of patients who underwent spine surgery during 2009 and we compared the results with retrospectively reviewed clinical records of patients operated during 2008. Patients were analyzed for preoperative risk factors, type of surgical procedure, onset of the infection, clinical presentation, treatment, and outcome. We performed 460 spine surgeries during 2008 and 490 during 2009. We recorded seven post-operative infections in 2008 compared to none in 2009. We consider the solution of PVP-I plus H(2)O(2) effective in further reducing the rate of post-operative infection in spine surgery.