Aquacell Ag (Convatec) surgical cover success reported in JAMA

A new study looking at infections following joint replacement surgery finds a 78 percent decrease in joint infections when Aquacell Ag SURGICAL cover dressing from ConvaTec was used. The study found that the infection rate for total joint replacement patients dropped to 0.4 percent when Aquacell Ag SURGICAL cover dressing was used as compared to 1.8 percent when gauze dressing was used.

The retrospective study included data collected at Riddle Memorial Hospital, part of Main Line Health in Media, PA and evaluated the incidence of joint infection in 1,892 patients undergoing total joint repair. Patients received either Aquacell Ag SURGICAL cover dressing or standard gauze dressing. Each dressing was applied to the surgical site in the operating room and kept for 5 days post-operatively. The decision to switch to applying the Aquacell Ag SURGICAL cover dressing to surgical sites was part of the multimodal approach used at Riddle Hospital. Results were published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.see "Total Knee Arthroplasty Volume, Utilization, and Outcomes Among Medicare Beneficiaries, 1991-2010." Cram P, Lu X, Kates S, Singh J, Li Y, Wolf B. JAMA. 2012; 308(12):1227-1236.