Even though most regional anesthesia textbooks and articles about infectious complications associated with central neuraxial blocks underline the necessity of surgical asepsis, none offers a clear and precise procedure. This protocol is intended to reduce variability of practices, and is felt to be stringent enough to be effective and liberal enough to be fully implemented. Any person involved with the procedure must wear a cap and a new face mask. The patient also should wear a cap. The anesthesiologist, wearing his usual operating room clothing, must wash his hands with an antiseptic soap solution, dry them on a sterile towel and wear sterile gloves. The patient's back should be disinfected at least twice (alcohol-iodine, alcoholic solution of chlorhexidine or of povidone-iodine). Disposable equipment only must be used. Drugs must be prepared contemporaneously and in a sterile manner (collar of non-sterilized ampoules cleaned with alcohol). The solution is drawn up through the filter (contained in the epidural set) but injected after filter removal. Infusion of sterile mixtures is preferable to top-ups, which require frequent disconnections that may cause hub colonization. Manipulation of the hub of the catheter must be preceded both by antiseptic hand washing and by swabbing with sterilized gauze soaked with 70% alcohol. Catheter removal requires only antiseptic hand washing in most circumstances. Wearing mask and gloves and improving skin disinfection practices are believed to be the more important parts of this protocol.
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