Impact of antimicrobial skin sealants on surgical site infections.

BACKGROUND: Surgical site infections (SSIs) after cardiac surgery remains a substantial cause of morbidity and mortality, with increasing costs due to expensive treatment and prolonged hospitalization. Because co-morbidity and bacterial resistance against appropriate antibiotic therapy increases with patient age, new prophylactic innovative strategies are needed. This article provides an overview of the current literature on the impact of microbial skin sealant to prevent SSIs.
METHODS: A comprehensive review of the literature reporting on microbial skin sealing to prevent surgical site infections was performed.
RESULTS: Experimental studies showed that cyanoacrylate microbial sealant decreased skin flora contamination. Additional studies showed that cyanoacrylate not only immobilizes bacteria but also actively prohibits bacterial growth. Randomized clinical studies showed significant quantitative reduction of skin microbes at the surgical site. This results in a decrease of SSIs, which in some studies was statistically significant. Several studies on "real world" patients also showed statistically significant reduction of SSIs.
CONCLUSION: Cyanoacrylate skin sealant can prohibit endogenous bacteria migration and actively reduce bacterial growth, which makes it an attractive option to reduce SSIs.