A novel hydrogel dressing for surgical site infection prevention in cardiac surgery: case series

Deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) is the most serious complication of cardiac surgery with high mortality rates. Despite the strategies developed for infection prevention and optimization of DSWI management, the incidence of DSWI remains unacceptably high. The objective of this study was to examine the safety, feasibility and efficacy of HS-Spirit Hydrogel Dressing for the prevention of surgical site infection in Cardiac Surgery. A single-center prospective study was performed in patients who underwent a sternotomy for cardiac surgery. Patients were followed up for 6 weeks for mortality and sternal wound infection (SWI). The outcomes of the treatment with HS-spirit Hydrogel Dressing which is a transparent, self-adhesive, waterproof material were compared to previously published data on routine dressing. In total 95 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 65.7 ± 11.1 years, and the average Body Mass Index (BMI) was 27.8 ± 4.7. The majority of the patients were male (76.8%). The mean bypass time was 111.2 ± 7.5 min, and the average total ventilation time was 39.7 ± 12.9 min. The average length of hospitalization was 10.77 ± 1.1 days. 56.8% of the patients underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), 29.5% had isolated valve surgery, 8.42% underwent a combination of CABG and valve surgery, and 5.26% underwent other types of cardiac surgeries. During the course of the study, no adverse event occurred. The observed rate of DSWI was 1.1%, while no mortality occurred during the 6 weeks of follow-up. The results of the study demonstrated that the use of HS-Spirit Hydrogel Dressing is safe. Comparing our results with published data, we observed a lower rate of 1.1% in DSWI rates compared to previous studies reporting up to 6% despite the implementation of infection prevention strategies. Our findings suggest that the addition of HS-Spirit Hydrogel Dressing to standard perioperative protocols may further reduce SWI incidence.