Is there a concern for contamination of the surgical field by particles, such as cement, that may escape the wound intraoperatively by coming into contact with the ceiling light or facial masks and fall back into the wound?

Authors: Greg Stocks, Abtin Alvand, Carlos Meheux; Robert Middleton

RECOMMENDATION: There is logically a high risk that particles which fall into the wound after coming into contact with unsterile equipment (e.g., ceiling lights, facial masks) will contaminate the surgical field. However, no studies investigating this hypothesis directly exist in the current
literature. We recommend that surgeons must be conscious of, and take precautions, in order to prevent particles from falling into the surgical field, and should such a scenario arise, to use copious antiseptic solutions, such as dilute betadine, in order to irrigate the wound.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Limited

DELEGATE VOTE: Agree: 97%, Disagree: 2%, Abstain: 1% (Unanimous, Strongest Consensus)

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