Topical Rifampicin versus Povidone-Iodine for the Prevention of Incisional Surgical Site Infections Following Benign Gynecologic Surgery: A Prospective, Randomized, Controlled Trial

In this prospective, randomized, controlled study we investigated the effect of subcutaneous rifampicin and povidone-iodine irrigation on incisional surgical site infection. Superficial incisional surgical site infection (SSI) following gynecologic surgery is a serious problem for both patient and surgeon in terms of increased morbidity, length of hospital stay, anxiety, and costs. Three hundred patients scheduled for abdominal surgery due to various benign gynecological pathologies were randomly assigned to one of three groups of 100 members each, as follows: the subcutaneous tissue was irrigated with saline in group 1; saline + rifampicin in group 2; saline +10% povidone iodine in group 3. Patients were invited to follow-up once every 10 days in a 30-day period for evaluation. Patients who developed a superficial incisional SSI were recorded. The superficial incisional SSI rate increased significantly with the use of saline alone (p = 0.006). There was no significant difference between saline +10% povidone iodine and saline + rifampicin (p=0.055). The results suggest that the incidence of superficial incisional SSI is significantly reduced when irrigation is performed using rifampicin and povidone-iodine compared with using saline alone.