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Surgical site marking does not affect sterility.

John Rooney1, Oliver K S Khoo, Andrew R Higgs

  • 1St Vincent's Clinic, Sydney, NSW, Austalia.

ANZ Journal of Surgery
|September 18, 2008
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Surgical site marking with non-sterile pens did not affect surgical site sterility. Pre-sterilization, bacteria were found on marked and unmarked skin, but iodine sterilization eliminated growth on all sites, supporting current marking practices.

Area of Science:

  • Medical Microbiology
  • Surgical Safety

Background:

  • Mandatory surgical site marking in Australia (2005) aims to prevent wrong-site surgery.
  • Non-sterile marking pens are commonly used, raising concerns about surgical site contamination.
  • Limited published data exists on the impact of non-sterile marking pens on surgical site sterility.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the effect of surgical site marking with a non-sterile pen on skin sterility.
  • To determine if non-sterile surgical marking pens introduce contamination to the surgical site.

Main Methods:

  • 20 volunteers' forearms simulated surgical sites; one arm marked with a non-sterile pen, the other served as a control.
  • Microbiology swabs collected pre- and post-iodine sterilization (10% povidone-iodine).
  • Swabs cultured after iodine deactivation; assessed for bacterial growth after 5 days.

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Main Results:

  • Pre-sterilization: 1/20 marked arms and 15/20 control arms showed bacterial growth.
  • Post-iodine sterilization: No bacterial growth detected on marked or control arm swabs.
  • Non-sterile marking did not lead to significant bacterial contamination post-sterilization.

Conclusions:

  • Surgical site marking with non-sterile pens does not contaminate the surgical site.
  • Iodine sterilization effectively eliminates bacteria from both marked and unmarked skin.
  • The practice of surgical site marking is recommended.