A Randomized Trial to Determine if a Pre-operative Wash With a Chlorhexidine Cloth Reduces Infectious Morbidity in Patients Undergoing Cesarean Section

Chlorhexidine is a sterile, germ-free solution, which is regularly used to clean the skin immediately before surgery and works by killing or preventing the growth or spread of bacteria. Data exists in both the orthopedic and cardiac literature to show that an additional preoperative use of chlorhexidine further reduces the risk of post procedure infections. Limited data exists regarding the use of a preoperative use of chlorhexidine in patients undergoing Obstetric or Gynecologic procedures and there is no wash or cloth used prior to cesarean section as a standard of care. The hope for this study is to identify if an additional preoperative chlorhexidine wash will further decrease or prevent infection in women who deliver their babies via cesarean section.

All patients with a scheduled cesarean section surgery will be approached for enrollment during their pre-admission testing visit on the labor floor 2 days before the scheduled cesarean section, a visit that is standard procedure for this surgery. Once a patient is consented, she will be randomly assigned to one of the 2 arms of the study: the eligible women will be randomized to use of 2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) cloths or placebo cloths (a fragrance free cleansing cloths) on the body the night before and the morning of their scheduled procedure. Participants will be blinded to the arm in which they have been assigned.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the use of 2% chlorhexidine gluconate cloths prior to cesarean section reduces the rate of surgical site wound infection and/or postpartum endometritis, which is an infection or inflammation of the endometrium (the inner lining of the uterus).