Patient safety in surgery
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Patient safety in surgery · Dec 2020
ReviewThe role of saline irrigation prior to wound closure in the reduction of surgical site infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Surgical site infection (SSI) describes an infectious complication of surgical wounds. Although SSI is thought to be preventable, it still represents a major cause of morbidity and substantial economic burden on the health system. Wound irrigation (WI) might reduce the level of bacterial contamination, but current data on its role in reducing or preventing SSI is conflicting. Our aim was to investigate the effectiveness of WI with normal saline prior to wound closure for the reduction of SSI in patients undergoing abdominal surgery. ⋯ PROSPERO registry number CRD42018082287 .