Does microbial colonisation of a neck drain predispose to surgical site infection: clean vs clean-contaminated procedures

Purpose The study was designed to assess the difference in microbiological colonisation and growth that may occur in drains, in the setting of clean-contaminated compared to clean head and neck surgery. Methods A prospective observational cohort study was performed. Surgical drain tips upon removal were sent for bacterial culture and the culture results were compared between clean-contaminated and clean procedures using mixed effects logistic regression. In all statistical analyses, a priori, p