Comparison Between Chlorhexidine Gluconate and Povidone Iodine In Preventing Surgical Site Infection In Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Surgical site infection is one of the major postoperative complication resulting in an increase in both morbidity and mortality of the patient. Preoperative patients body surface preparation is one of the major factors in preventing surgical site infection. In this study we compared povidone iodine usually used disinfectant with chlorhexidine gluconate for surgical site infection MATERIALS & METHODS It was a cross sectional study conducted at General Surgery ward Gulab Devi Hospital Lahore from January 2021 to December 2022. A total of 200 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were included in this study through purposive sampling and then divided into two groups using lottery methods. In Group A peroperative patients skin preparation was done with 10% povidone iodine while in Group B 4% chlorhexidine gluconate was used for skin preparation. Patients with empyema gall bladder, gall bladder or gut perforation and laparoscopic procedures converted to open were excluded from this study. RESULTS In this study mean age of 45.8 ± 10.3 years with range from 25 to 65 years. In Group A mean age was 45.7 ± 10.8 years while in group B it was 45.8 ± 9.8 years. In Group A 12% wound infection was documented while in Group B it was only 4% (P-value 0.03). CONCLUSION Many antiseptic solutions are used for patient skin preparation before surgery which includes chlorhexidine gluconate, povidone iodine and alcohol. Among these solutions povidone iodine solution is commonly used. In our study we compared povidone iodine with chlorhexidine gluconate solution which showed less surgical site infection which shows chlorhexidine gluconate solution can be safely replaced with povidone iodine solution for skin preparation.