Preoperative washing before elective procedures

According to estimates, postoperative wound infections cost the German healthcare system up to 3 billion euros every year¹.

Postoperative wound infections have therefore increasingly become the focus of public attention. The keyword "patient safety" is particularly
in focus when it comes to postoperative wound infections in orthopaedics.

Due to the increasing number of people worldwide with hip and knee endoprostheses, the implantation of artificial joints is already considered a routine procedure. Although the SSI rates following this type of procedure are comparatively low, the increasing frequency also increases the economic and health implications.

The postoperative wound infection rate is 0.5% for knee endoprostheses and between 1% and 3% for hip endoprostheses.^2,3 Postoperative wound infections are the most common indication for revision surgery in knee endoprosthetics and are the third most common indication for hip endoprosthetics. For example, the length of hospital stay can double or even triple after a hip endoprosthesis. A length of stay of up to 28 days therefore results in significantly higher costs.

Patients with postoperative wound infections after knee endoprostheses also have a significantly longer hospital stay than patients without infection (up to 24 days). The average cost of treatment for patients with infection is $116,000 (€100,000) compared to $28,000 (€24,600) for patients without infection.⁴

If left untreated, wound infections can penetrate deep into the joint and develop into a serious and costly periprosthetic infection.

Preoperative patient decontamination prior to knee surgery could save between $0.8 and $2.3 billion⁵ annually in the US. Early preventive measures are therefore strongly recommended⁶.