Povidone-iodine spray technique versus traditional scrub-paint technique for preoperative abdominal wall preparation.

OBJECTIVE The study was conducted to compare povidone-iodine spray and traditional scrub-paint techniques in reducing abdominal wall bacteria during preoperative preparation. STUDY DESIGN Sixty patients scheduled to undergo vaginal surgery were recruited for study. Cultures of the abdominal skin were performed before and after preparation with two techniques: A traditional 5-minute iodophor soap scrub-paint on one half and povidone-iodine aqueous spray on the other. Multiple pairwise comparisons were performed with the Wilcoxon signed rank test. A P value of.05 was considered statistically significant in all analyses. RESULTS The mean number of colonies for spray after 1 minute was 1.83 +/- 3.16, for spray after 3 minutes was 0.40 +/- 1.15, and after 5-minute scrub was 0.87 +/- 2.97. Both techniques, the spray after 3 minutes and the 5-minute scrub, were statistically more effective at reducing bacterial counts than the spray after 1 minute. There was no statistically significant difference between the spray after 3 minutes and the scrub techniques. CONCLUSION Povidone-iodine applied as a spray and left to dry for 3 minutes appears as effective as the traditional scrub-paint technique in reducing abdominal wall bacteria before abdominal surgery.