European review for medical and pharmacological sciences
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Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci · Sep 2018
Review Meta AnalysisEffectiveness of antimicrobial-coated sutures for the prevention of surgical site infection: a review of the literature.
Surgical site infections (SSIs) are the third most common hospital-acquired infections and account for 14% to 16% of all such infections, and suture material may play a role in SSI rate. Given this risk of infection, sutures with antimicrobial activity have been developed. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments have shown that triclosan-coated sutures (TCS) are effective in the prevention of SSIs. Our aim is to analyze currently available RCTs, comparing the effect of antimicrobial-coated suture (ACS) with uncoated suture on the occurrence of SSIs following surgical procedures, we highlighted major contributions of most significant studies and evaluate the current "state of the art" on antimicrobial-coated sutures. ⋯ On the basis of our selected trial results and the heterogeneous findings of our 7 selected meta-analyses, we conclude that even though the question of whether TCSs could reduce the occurrence of SSI remains still open, the antimicrobial suture was effective in decreasing the risk for postoperative SSIs in a broad population of patients undergoing surgery. Alternative substances are becoming clinically relevant, such as Chlorhexidine (CHX) coated sutures and only 6 in vivo scientific studies evaluated them. In vivo studies, large and comparative clinical research trials are necessary to validate the efficacy of CHX-coated sutures thus allowing their use in clinical practice.