Outcomes following thoracic surgery: the role of preoperative chlorhexidine mouthwash in the prevention of post-operative pneumonia

Postoperative pneumonia is a frequent and serious complication of the surgery. It poses a real risk of leading an otherwise successful surgery to a life threatening state. The postoperative pneumonia also leads to an increased morbidity and prolonged length of hospital stay and costs. 1,2 For these reasons, the emphasis lies in the prevention of the post-operative pneumonia. Prophylactic approaches could be both non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic. Oral defences’s and hygiene help prevent pneumonia in the healthy individuals. 3 However an invasive anaesthesia and the operations increase the risk of the chest infection by disturbing the oral defences’s. One simple approach to reduce the incidence of the post-operative pneumonia has been use of an oral chlorhexidine in the intensive care units with promising results4. Its role in the pre-operative period to disinfect the oral cavity thereby reducing the postoperative pneumonia incidence has not been formally investigated. This study compares the outcomes in the patients ABSTRACT