A clinical trial of chlorhexidine and noxythiolin in gynaecological surgery.

POSTOPERATIVE bacteriuria occurs in about one-third of patients undergoing major gynaecological surgery and its incidence is related to the method of bladder management (Mustafa and Pinkerton 1968). Although the bacteriuria is cured, in the vast majority of patients, by the time of follow-up in 6 weeks, its incidence adds to the immediate postoperative morbidity and may prolong the patient's stay in hospital. For these reasons various measures for the prevention of postoperative bacteriuria have been introduced. The most effective of these measures are closed bladder drainage (Linton and Gillespie 1962) and the instillation of an antiseptic into the bladder (Paterson et al, 1960). The commonly used bladder antiseptics, in gynaecology, are chlorhexidine and, more recently, noxythiolin ("Noxyflex"). The value of these antiseptics in the prevention of postoperative bacteriuria has been assessed in this study. PATIENTS AND METHODS