Triclosan-coated sutures to reduce surgical site infection in abdominal gastrointestinal surgery: A meta-analysis and systematic review

Background: Previous randomized trials evaluated the effectiveness of triclosan-coated sutures for fascial closure in preventing surgical site infection (SSI). However, available evidence remains still inconclusive. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of triclosan-coated sutures in fascia closure in preventing postoperative SSI in elective gastrointestinal surgery. Meta-analysis: A meta-analysis included present outcomes, evaluating the advantages of triclosan-coated compared with non-coated sutures in preventing SSIs for fascia closure of laparotomy in abdominal gastrointestinal surgery. To identify prospective randomized trials regarding this topic, we searched Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Central) and PubMed with the following search terms: "triclosan or triclosan coated;" "surgical site infection;" and "randomized controlled trial" was searched, respectively. To avoid the evaluation of the heterogenous group of patients, the following studies were excluded; only emergency surgery, or not including gastroenterological surgery. The Mantel-Haenszel random-effects model was performed with R software (CRAN, R3.6.2; https://cran.r-project.org/). Results: This meta-analysis included eleven phase-III and two prospective studies, which comprised 9588 patients. The aggregated phase-III results of the trials demonstrate a significant superiority of triclosan-coated sutures compared with non-coated sutures (random-effect model, OR 0.71, 95 % CI 0.56-0.90, P = 0.0052). Conclusion: The meta-analysis showed benefit with triclosan-coated sutures in preventing SSI after gastrointestinal surgery.