Post-cesarean section wound infections are responsible for longer hospital stays, readmissions, and ultimately, increased costs to the healthcare system. Silver-containing dressings may prevent wound infections. The purpose of the current study is to determine if the use of a silver-impregnated dressing decreases the occurence of wound infection following cesarean delivery.
A single-centered, single-arm clinical trial was originally designed to investigate the effects of an adherent soft silicone anti-microbial occlusive foam silver-impregnated dressing in preventing surgical site infection (SSI) in women delivered by primary cesarean section (CS). We sought to determine if the incidence of SSIs, would be lower in patients who received a silver-impregnated dressing as compared to those who received a standard dressing, when used as part of the overall hospital protocol for reducing SSIs. Given the addition of adjunctive azithromycin antibiotic prophylaxis for those who labored or had rupture of membranes prior to undergoing a non-elective CS right at the time of initiation of the study to our institution perioperative bundle, we also elected to undertake further analyses of observational data on those with the same study inclusion criteria receiving standard dressing undergoing primary CS with subcuticular skin closure during the same time period, rather than limiting comparisons of our outcomes solely to our historical SSI rates. In order to have this comparison group, patients who declined participation in the experimental groups were selected as our non-randomized control group, given fiscal restraints precluded conducting a randomized clinical trial (RCT). Demographic, labor, delivery, intraoperative and postoperative characteristic data were collected in a de-identified fashion. Medical record review and data entry were conducted by trained research personnel. All study procedures were approved by the Investigational Review Board.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
380
All participants will receive an adherent soft silicone silver impregnated anti-microbial occlusive foam dressing after cesarean section. The dressing will stay on for up to seven days.
Loyola University Medical Center
Maywood, Illinois, United States
Number of Participants With Wound Disruption and/or Infection
Rate of wound disruption and /or infection occurring by 6 weeks was compared to a historical control rate of 10%, and to a contemporary group who received a standard dressing
Time frame: 6 weeks postoperative
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