The Effect of Subcutaneous Saline Irrigation on Surgical Site Infection During Cesarean Section

Abstract

Introduction: Postoperative wound site infection is an important source of morbidity in surgeries. This leads to financial burden in patients and healthcare systems. There is a need for simple and inexpensive methods in order to reduce surgical site infection (SSI). In this study, we aimed to retrospectively investigate the effect of saline irrigation on the reduction of surgical wound site infections following cesarean section. Methods: A total of 2,220 patients who underwent cesarean section in the obstetrics and gynecology clinic of our hospital between January 2017 and December 2020 were included in the study. A total of 1,090 cesarean sections with skin irrigation were compared with 1,130 cesarean sections performed without irrigation. Variable factors that could affect infection such as cesarean technique, patient population’s characteristics, and operating room conditions were completely same for both groups. Results: SSI was detected in 22 (1%) of the 2,220 patients. Nine (0.8%) patients in Group 1 and 13 (1.1%) patients in Group 2 were infected. The difference between both groups was statistically insignificant (p>0.05). Patients’ age, body mass index (BMI), gestational week, length of stay, pre-cesarean hemoglobin, the rates of urgent cesarean sections, smokers, and diabetes mellitus (DM) were similar between both groups (p>0.05). The rates of DM (p=0.056) and BMI (p=0.022) were statistically higher compared to general patients. Discussion and Conclusion: Our results indicated that saline irrigation was not effective in surgical wound site infections.