[Wound closure after irrigation with Octenisept® without possibility for drainage]

A 39-year-old patient suffered a stab wound of the right thenar prominence after an accident with a screwdriver. In the first hospital the deep wound was irrigated with octenidine dihydrochloride/2-phenoxyethanol and closed by suture. During the further course pressure pain and numbness of the right thenar and swelling of the right hand occurred. Three weeks after the accident an operative revision of the wound in a second hospital was performed. The intraoperative findings showed inflammation and necrosis of the right m. abductor pollicis brevis, but no infection with pus.The patient accused the first hospital of irrigating the tissue of his right hand with Octenisept®. The expert option of the Arbitration Board identified improper care in the first hospital with insufficient excision of the wound and incorrect use of the Octenisept® solution. Against the explicit advice of the manufacturing company the wound had been sutured without the possibility of drainage for the Octenisept® solution.