Data published today in The New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates that use of CareFusion's patient preoperative skin preparation ChloraPrep® (2 percent chlorhexidine gluconate and 70 percent isopropyl alcohol) reduced total surgical site infections (SSIs) by 41 percent, from 16.1 percent to 9.5 percent, compared to use of povidone-iodine solution, the most commonly used preoperative skin preparation.
In this prospective, randomized and controlled outcomes trial designed to compare the efficacy of skin antiseptics in reducing the risk of SSIs, ChloraPrep proved superior in clean-contaminated abdominal, urologic, gynecologic and thoracic surgery.
"For nearly a decade, health care professionals have relied on the proven efficacy of ChloraPrep," said Stephen R. Lewis, M.D. and chief medical officer of CareFusion. "This study is an example of our ongoing commitment to providing clinicians with evidence-based data that clinically differentiates our products in order to help improve patient care and lower costs."
Surgical Site Infections Can be Costly to the Patient and the Health Care System
SSIs are one of the most common types of health care-associated infections (HAIs); 1.7 million people suffer HAIs each year, resulting in approximately 271 deaths per day. Approximately 300,000 to 500,000 Americans develop SSIs each year, resulting in an annual cost of approximately $7.4 billion. The issue is not limited to the U.S. In the United Kingdom, one in twenty (5 percent) patients undergoing surgery is at risk of developing an infection and SSIs account for one-third of all deaths following surgery.
SSIs can occur when microorganisms naturally found on the skin of a patient enter the body when the skin's protective barrier is compromised during the surgical procedure. There are many guidelines that suggest critical steps health care facilities can take to reduce the risk of surgical site infection, yet despite these recommendations SSIs continue to represent a significant and costly problem for the health care system.