Chlorhexidine Gluconate Versus Povidone Iodine at Cesarean Delivery: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Currently there are no published studies comparing the efficacy of Chloraprep and povidone-iodine in decreasing postoperative- wound infection in cesarean sections. However, there have been studies involving other types of surgery that have compared the efficacy of different types of preoperative cleansing agents in preventing postoperative wound infection. These studies have shown that controversy exists over which antiseptic skin preparation is the most effective for preventing postoperative surgical wound infections. The standard of care at Los Angeles County Hospital for preoperative skin antiseptic in cesarean sections is povidone- iodine 10% (betadine), however many other hospitals have made the transition to using Chloraprep. In an attempt to improve on the current standard of care, we propose a quality improvement prospective randomized study to compare the difference in postoperative wound complications with the use of povidone- iodine and Chloraprep as a preoperative antiseptic in cesarean sections. We hypothesize that Chloraprep will be better than Betadine at reducing the incidence of positive bacterial cultures following cesarean sections.