Pre-admission cutaneous chlorhexidine preparation reduces surgical site infections in total hip arthroplasty

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence of surgical site infections in total hip arthroplasty patients who used an advance pre-admission cutaneous surgical preparation protocol and to compare these results to a cohort of patients who did not use the protocol. Between 2007 and 2010, 557 patients used the chlorhexidine cloths and 1901 patients did not use the cloths. Patient records were reviewed to determine the incidence of deep incisional and periprosthetic infections. A statistically significant lower incidence of infections occurred in patients who used the chlorhexidine cloths (0.5%) when compared to patients undergoing in-hospital perioperative skin preparation only (1.7%). These results confirm prior studies suggesting this as an effective method to prevent periprosthetic hip arthroplasty infections.