General Decolonization With Octenisan® Set Before Elective Orthopedic Surgery

Phase 3

Completed

• Conditions: Prevention of Surgical Site Infections; High Risk; Elective Surgery; Randomized-controlled Trial
• Interventions: Drug: Whole Body and nasal decolonization with octenidin (Octenisan Set); Behavioral: Questionnaire for study participants immediately after the decolonization

• Registration Number: NCT05647252
• Lead Sponsor: Balgrist University Hospital

Brief Summary

The general decolonization of the human body surface by industrial antiseptic agents, before elective surgery is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

A specific randomized-controlled trial specifically among high-risk adult orthopedic patients for infection has not been performed.

In this single-center, prospective, randomized, and controlled superiority trial, which is planned over a period of two years, we target on an orthopedic patient population with an elevated risk for revision surgery and surgical site infections

Detailed Description

The general decolonization of the human body surface and, of adjacent pathogen reservoirs such as the nose, by industrial antiseptic agents by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the risk reduction of superficial and deep surgical site infection (SSI). Such a decolonization is regarded as evidence-based in the majority of randomized, and before-after trials, since two decades, although negative studies also exist.

In the orthopedic field, this decolonization is likely to be more effective in elective patients with a proven body colonization of Staphylococcus aureus. The decolonization might be equally efeective in orthopedic patients with an inherent high risk for SSI, for which the majority of future SSI pathogens are skin commensals and S. aureus. These (eventual and future) pathogens of SSI are accessible to the topical agents during the index surgery, if the patients are well instructed and know how to decolonize themselves.

In contrast, this pre-surgical decolonization is only a supplementary measure in the bundle of all combined efforts to prevent revision surgery for infection. Its individual power is limited for young, healthy individuals, for SSIs caused by pathogens from the internal body sites (intestinal, urinary, gynecologic regions), infections acquired on the surgical ward, and in settings with less specialized surgeries and a low volume of surgical experience. Hence, in trials including all patients (or only those carrying S. aureus), the beneficial effect of decolonization can be diluted and provoke an additional costly and cumber-some organizational procedure for the majority of patients with low to moderate SSI risks.

Moreover, many surgical site infections in orthopedic surgery, especially in implant-related surgery, are more due to coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) than for S. aureus.

The hallmark of the CoNS group is S. epidermidis with approximatively 70% resistance (in Switzerland) to standard prophylactic antibiotic agents9, As S. epidermidis is part of the normal human flora, typically the skin flora, and, only becomes pathogenic under certain conditions, a screening for this microorganism is not feasible in common practice,. while the prophylaxis-resistant part of all orthopedic SSI pathogens is at 30-50%.

In this single-center, prospective, randomized, and controlled superiority trial, which is planned over a period of two years, we target on an orthopedic patient population with an elevated risk for revision sur-gery and SSI; inde-pendently of a known body carriage for S. aureus.

This study will be performed with an existing "set" manufactured by Schülke \& Mayr GmbH. The "Set" was placed on the market in 2016. The distribution of Octenisan® wash lotion and Octenisan® nasal gel in the form of a set (Octenisan® Set) largely streamlines and facilitates the organizational application and compliance efforts of the study.

Academically and clinically, we will gain insight in the performance of decolonization for a patient population at particular risk of postoperative complications, where every effort to prevent infection is of importance.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2022-11-30
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-12-09
• Study First Posted: 2022-12-12
• Study Start: 2023-02-27
• Primary Completion: 2024-11-28
• Status Verified: 2025-02
• Study Completion: 2025-02-20
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-02-20
• Last Update Posted: 2025-02-21

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1086

Inclusion Criteria

• Age ≥ 18 years
• Patients with an age ≥ 80 years (as considered particularly at risk for SSI)
• Elective orthopedic surgery at the Balgrist
• Chronic immune-suppression (diabetes mellitus, active cancer, cirrhosis CHILD C, renal dialysis, untreated HIV disease, medicamentous immune-suppression equivalent to prednisone ≥ 10 mg/day)
• Elective surgery in ischemic skin (e.g. major amputations)
• Elective surgery on non-diabetic and non-infected ulcerated skin
• Tumor (oncologic) orthopedic surgery
• ASA-Scores 3-4 points

Exclusion Criteria

• Elective revision orthopedic surgery due to orthopedic infection within the last 12 months in the same area of surgery
• Emergency surgery (defined as planned surgery within the next 48 hours)
• Surgery on infected skin; or surgery under antibiotic treatment for any reason
• "Diabetic foot surgery" (distinct clinical entity; defined as below the ankle)
• Body mass index ≥ 35 kg/m2 (anticipated difficulty of effective decolonization)
• Pregnancy (formality reasons)
• Intolerance or allergy to octenidin and/or ingredients in the Octenisan® set
• Use of any other topical antiseptic agents other than Octenisan® set (except for the duration of one day)
• Patient unable to understand; or under legal guardian for medical decisions
• Anticipated clinical follow-up of less than 6 weeks after surgery.
• ASA-Scores 1-2, and ASA-Score 5 (high risk of postoperative complications)
• Known skin colonization with antibiotic-multiresistant Gram-negative organisms defined by infection control protocols of Switzerland1

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Decolonization	Whole Body and nasal decolonization with octenidin (Octenisan Set)	This study will be performed with an existing "set" manufactured by Schülke \& Mayr GmbH. The distribution of octenisan® wash lotion and octenisan® nasal gel in the form of a set (octenisan® set) largely streamlines and facilitates the application and compliance. The duration of pre-surgical decolonization is planned to be five days. However, when this pre-surgical time period is too short, the decolonization may also start at least 3 days before surgery and be contin-ued up to 2 days post-surgery. During the post-surgery application, the patient will be washed with water and Octenisan® set by their treating nurses. The patient will also return the empty/used set and answer to a short questionnaire during their hospital stay. The study team will recuperate the questionnaire during hospitalization.
Decolonization	Questionnaire for study participants immediately after the decolonization	This study will be performed with an existing "set" manufactured by Schülke \& Mayr GmbH. The distribution of octenisan® wash lotion and octenisan® nasal gel in the form of a set (octenisan® set) largely streamlines and facilitates the application and compliance. The duration of pre-surgical decolonization is planned to be five days. However, when this pre-surgical time period is too short, the decolonization may also start at least 3 days before surgery and be contin-ued up to 2 days post-surgery. During the post-surgery application, the patient will be washed with water and Octenisan® set by their treating nurses. The patient will also return the empty/used set and answer to a short questionnaire during their hospital stay. The study team will recuperate the questionnaire during hospitalization.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Wound problems after elective surgery	Until week 6 after surgery	Wound problems (dehiscence, seroma, hematoma, necrosis) occurring after surgery
Remission (and inversely surgical site infection)	At 6 weeks after elective orthopedic surgery; or at 1 year for surgeries with orthopedic implants	Remission is defined as the absence of clinical, anamnestic, radiologic or laboratory signs of infection.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Adverse events	At 6 weeks after elective orthopedic surgery; or at 1 year for surgeries with orthopedic implants	All adverse events during the decolonization and hospitalization periods
Unplanned revision surgery for non-infection problems in same time period	At 6 weeks after elective orthopedic surgery; or at 1 year for surgeries with orthopedic implants	Any revision in the operating theatre due to non-infectious pathologies
Subjective opinion and information on the decolonization	A day within one week after surgery (during the hospitalization)	Questionnaire with 5 questions only for patients being decolonized

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Balgrist University Hospital; 🇨🇭 Zürich, Switzerland