title: Bacterial burden in the operating room: impact of airflow systems.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Wound infections present one of the most prevalent and frequent complications associated with surgical procedures. This study analyzes the impact of currently used ventilation systems in the operating room to reduce bacterial contamination during surgical procedures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four ventilation systems (window-based ventilation, supported air nozzle canopy, low-turbulence displacement airflow, and low-turbulence displacement airflow with flow stabilizer) were analyzed. Two hundred seventy-seven surgical procedures in 6 operating rooms of 5 different hospitals were analyzed for this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Window-based ventilation showed the highest intraoperative contamination (13.3 colony-forming units [CFU]/h) followed by supported air nozzle canopy (6.4 CFU/h; P = .001 vs window-based ventilation) and low-turbulence displacement airflow (3.4 and 0.8 CFU/h; P < .001 vs window-based ventilation and supported air nozzle canopy). The highest protection was provided by the low-turbulence displacement airflow with flow stabilizer (0.7 CFU/h), which showed a highly significant difference compared with the best supported air nozzle canopy theatre (3.9 CFU/h; P < .001). Furthermore, this system showed no increase of contamination in prolonged durations of surgical procedures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that intraoperative contamination can be significantly reduced by the use of adequate ventilation systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Burn Center, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.forename: Helmine
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hubert
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lahmer
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lehnhardt
authors.forename: Hans-Ulrich
authors.initials: HU
authors.lastname: Steinau
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Steinstraesser
authors.forename: Hans-Martin
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Seipp
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D058491:Bacterial Load; D006801:Humans; D009873:Operating Rooms; D014691:Ventilation / Q000379:methods*