Efficacy of Surgical Diathermy in Eradicating Cutibacterium Acnes From Surgical Skin Incision During Shoulder Arthroplasty

Detailed Summary

Periprosthetic infection following shoulder arthroplasty is a devastating complication. Diagnosing and treating periprosthetic shoulder infection poses a significant challenge. At the forefront of this issue is Cutibacterium acnes because the current prophylactic regimens are insufficient to eradicate C acnes from the surgical field. It is believed that C acnes infections occur during surgery when the sebaceous glands in the skin are cut and exposed, leading to C acnes contaminating the surgeon's instruments and gloves and, thus, the surgical wound. The purpose of this study is to examine if making skin incisions using electrocautery will result in decreased C acnes contamination during shoulder arthroplasty. To this end, we propose a randomized clinical trial where patients undergoing shoulder arthroplasty are randomized into two groups - Electrocautery incision group (Electro) vs. Scalpel incision group (Scalpel) - and swab cultures are obtained from the skin incision and operating surgeon's gloves and forceps

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