Evaluation of the Efficacy of Sodium Fusidate and Ethanol Spray as Pre-Incision Skin Disinfectant for Abdominal Surgery

Abstract

Background: Surgical site infection is an overwhelming menace for the surgeon and it increases the morbidity and mortality of the patient, increases the hospital stay and cost of the treatment. One of the important factors among these is the preoperative preparation of the skin with antiseptic agent. For centuries there has been a search for an ideal agent for this purpose. Aim: This study was undertaken to evaluate the newly introduced Sodium fusidate and Ethanol spray as a preoperative skin preparation agent and compared it with other conventional methods. Materials and Method: This prospective study was conducted on 178 patients of general surgical wards during January 2020 to December 2020. It included all the clean and clean contaminated intra-abdominal surgical procedures conducted in planned surgery.Result:  In the present study, we observed wound sepsis in 24 cases out of a total of 178 cases. Postoperative wound sepsis rates were higher in clean contaminated wounds(16.52%) as compared to clean wounds(7.9%). Maximum infection rate was present in Savlon and Spirit group (14.28%), while it was least in Fusidic acid spray group (5.88%). The most common organism isolated from infected wound was Staphylococcus aureus (41.67%), followed by E. coli (20.83%) and Streptococci (16.67%).Conclusion: Sodium fusidate and Ethanol spray is an effective skin preparation agent as concluded by our study in clean and clean contaminated elective abdominal procedures.