Abstract: Background: Surgical site infection is most common complication after appendectomy especially in patients with perforated appendicitis.
Aim: To assess the role of irrigation of the surgical wound with normal saline in comparison with povidon iodine soaking on the rate of surgical site infection after appendectomy for perforated appendicitis.
Methods: This is a prospective randomized study which was carried out in department of surgery at baquba teaching hospital for 116 patients with perforated appendicitis operated on. The study took one year (April 1-2013 to march 31-2014). The patients were divided into two groups:
Group A: Surgical wounds washed with normal saline.
Group B: Surgical wound washed with povidon iodine.
Results: This study have found that 9(15.5%) out of 58 patients developed surgical site infection in group A and 20(34.4%) out of 58 patients develop surgical site infection in group B(p value=0.0320),suggesting that the normal saline is more effective than povidon iodine stacking for surgical site infection of perforated appendicitis with statistically significant results.
Conclusions: The syringe pressure irrigation of the surgical wound with normal saline after appendectomy contributes significantly in decreasing the incidence of postoperative surgical site infection in perforated appendicitis.
