NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Preoperative screening and follow-up treatment if indicated can reduce postoperative infection rates with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in patients undergoing otolaryngic surgery, new research shows.

Dr. Sara L. Richter and co-authors from Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, compared postoperative MRSA infection rates of 179 patients who underwent preoperative screening with those of 241 unscreened patients.

Screening involved testing for S. aureus colonization from nasal swab specimens. MRSA-colonized patients were treated with mupirocin ointment on the anterior nares and with a chlorhexidine wash for 5 days before surgery.

The findings appear in the January issue of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.

In the non-screened group, nine patients had S. aureus infections, including two with MRSA infections at the surgical site.

In the screened group, 24 patients had S. aureus colonization and all were treated preoperatively. Postoperatively, none of the patients in the screened group developed a MRSA infection.

“Although larger studies are needed, screening and treatment of MRSA colonized patients preoperatively may reduce infectious complications in otolaryngology,” the researchers conclude.

Reference:
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2009.