如何更有效地预防手术切口感染而加速术后患者的康复是外科实践过程中经常面临的问题，据统计仅在美国每年就约有50万例手术切口感染发生。手术切口感染不仅增加患者的痛苦和经济负担，更在于它可显著影响手术治疗的质量，甚至引起患者死亡。由此可见问题的严重性。

众所周知，手术前规范的皮肤准备，手术中严格无菌操作和手术后对切口的有效保护与隔离是预防手术切口并发感染的三大基础措施。最近有学者公布一项临床研究结果认为术后采用无菌的干棉签，较用浸有碘酒的棉签擦试手术切口不仅能更好地预防切口感染，且能减轻术后疼痛和缩短住院时间。经比较发现，采用干棉签擦试手术切口的患者，其感染率仅为3%，用浸有碘酒的棉签擦试者，其切口感染率高达19%。研究人员将一看似不合理的结果解释为“使用无菌的干棉签擦试手术切口能够更好地吸纳手术切口分泌物，而有利于预防其感染的发生”。显然，降低了感染的发生率自然就减轻了切口疼痛（注：疼痛是感染的特征性表现之一）和缩短了住院时间。

据外国同行称，该技术已经在临床应用至少有15年之久，那么国内的外科医生用上了没有？

Cotton Swabs Help Prevent Surgical Site Infections: Study

Daily use to probe incision site also reduced patient pain, hospital stay, researchers say

THURSDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- Cotton swabs offer a cheap, effective way of reducing surgical site infections, according to researchers.

Daily use of dry cotton swabs to gently probe the incision sites of patients who'd undergone appendectomy dramatically reduced surgical site infections, the study revealed. Only 3 percent of patients who underwent the daily routine developed infections, compared with 19 percent of patients in a control group whose incision sites were swabbed with iodine.

Patients in the cotton swab group also had less postoperative pain, much shorter hospital stays (five versus seven days), and better cosmetic healing of their incisions, according to the study published in a recent issue of the Archives of Surgery.

The researchers believe that using cotton swabs to probe the incision site enables contaminated fluid trapped within soft tissues to drain. This may reduce the amount of bacteria in the wound while maintaining the moist environment needed for successful wound healing.

"This practice was introduced to me as a surgical resident 15 years ago," study author Dr. Shirin Towfigh, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said in a medical center news release. "I've used it routinely since then. While I thought all surgeons were aware of this treatment approach, I learned otherwise when I began my professional career. Since it was evident to me that probing certain wounds after surgery resulted in far fewer infections, I developed this clinical trial so that my colleagues across the country could learn about -- and confidently adopt -- the practice."

More than 500,000 surgical site infections occur in the United States each year. They account for nearly one-quarter of hospital-acquired infections and are a major cause of illness and death in hospital patients, the authors noted in the news release.

SOURCE: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, news release, June 28, 2011