The use of sutures coated in triclosan, a broad-spectrum antiseptic, reduces the risk of surgical site infections by 26 percent, according to a study in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
Researchers performed a meta-analysis of 29 studies on the use of triclosan-coated sutures to see if using those sutures, as opposed to non-triclosan-coated sutures, would reduce the risk of patients getting an SSI. Among those studies, the pooled relative risk ratio of acquiring an SSI was 0.65 in favor of using coated sutures.
In other words, the meta-analysis shows that using triclosan-coated sutures reduced the risk of SSI by 26 percent for surgical patients. The researchers noted the effect of the coated sutures "was particularly evident among those who underwent abdominal surgery."