Newer infection prevention techniques , such as preoperative antiseptic scrubbing , are affected and may help reduce the infection rate , while traditionally accepted methods of prophylaxis such as laminar-flow operating rooms and body exhaust suits may raise the infection rate
Despite advances in our underst and ing of surgical site infections following total joint arthroplasty , this serious surgical complication continues to represent a substantial economic burden for the patient , the treating institution and the healthcare system .
After increasing for the past decade , infection rates have stabilized at 1.6 % ; however , the total cost is projected to increase with the total number of revision procedures performed .
Body-exhaust suit versus occlusive clothing. A randomised, prospective trial using air and wound bacterial counts.
We r and omly allocated 50 total knee replacements to scrub teams wearing body-exhaust suits ( BES ) or Rotecno occlusive clothing .  The effectiveness of the clothing was assessed using air and wound bacterial counts . Bacteria were recovered from 62 % of wounds ( 64 % BES , 60 % Rotecno ) . The mean air count was 0.5 CFU/ m3 with BES and 1.0 CFU/m3 with Rotecno ( p = 0.014 ) . The mean wound counts were 14 bacteria/wound with BES and eight bacteria/wound with Rotecno ( p = 0.171 ) . There was no correlation between the air and wound counts ( r = -0.011 , Spearman 's ) . The higher air counts suggest that Rotecno occlusive clothing is less effective than BES , but wounds were equally contaminated with both types of clothing suggesting that at very low levels of air contamination the contribution of bacteria to the wound from the air is irrelevant . Even doubling the air counts from 0.5 to 1.0 CFU/m3 had no detectable effect on the wound . This allows a re assessment to be made of other sources of contamination the effect of which would previously have been overwhelmed by contamination from air
Newer infection prevention techniques , such as preoperative antiseptic scrubbing , are affected and may help reduce the infection rate , while traditionally accepted methods of prophylaxis such as laminar-flow operating rooms and body exhaust suits may raise the infection rate
Despite advances in our underst and ing of surgical site infections following total joint arthroplasty , this serious surgical complication continues to represent a substantial economic burden for the patient , the treating institution and the healthcare system .
After increasing for the past decade , infection rates have stabilized at 1.6 % ; however , the total cost is projected to increase with the total number of revision procedures performed .