Iodine-impregnated adhesive drapes halve the rate of pocket site bacterial contamination during repeat cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) procedures.
Use of iodine drapes eliminated adjudicated CIED infections in the treated group over one year of follow-up, compared with 1.9% infection rate in controls.
Positive swab cultures correlate with a higher, though not statistically significant, risk for subsequent CIED infections, emphasizing early contamination’s role in pathogenesis.
This low-cost, easy-to-implement intraoperative step could substantially decrease infection-related morbidity and healthcare costs in CIED replacements.
