2026/06/23 by Paul Nix, Nick Phillips, Atul Tyagi +2
Medicine · #Head and Neck Surgical Oncology #Nasal Surgery and Airway Studies #Sinusitis and nasal conditions
paper · doi:10.1017/s0022215126105179
crossref issued 2026/06/23 · crossref published 2026/06/23 · crossref published-online 2026/06/23 · openalex publication_date 2026/06/23 · crossref created 2026/06/23 · openalex created_date 2026/06/24 · crossref deposited 2026/07/20 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30
Abstract Background Surgical site infection is a major cause of morbidity. Standard pre-operative nasal decolonisation depends on patient-led, multiday topical antibiotics, which suffer from poor adherence and contribute to antimicrobial resistance. Clinician-delivered nasal photodisinfection offers an immediate, non-antibiotic alternative. Methods A single-centre before-and-after service evaluation compared surgical site infection outcomes before and after implementation of a pre-operative nasal photodisinfection protocol in adults undergoing endoscopic anterior skull base surgery. The primary outcome was 30-day surgical site infection; secondary outcomes were post-operative meningitis and excess bed-stay. Results Two hundred patients were included (105 standard; 95 photodisinfection). Surgical site infection occurred in 15 patients (14.6 per cent) with standard care versus 3 (3.2 per cent) after photodisinfection, an absolute risk reduction of 11.4 per cent (95 per cent CI 3.7–19.1; p = 0.0059). Meningitis occurred in five standard-care patients and none after photodisinfection. Compliance was 100 per cent, with no adverse events. Conclusion Photodisinfection was associated with substantially reduced surgical site infection.