Background: We applied prophylactic mupirocin during open heart surgery to eradicate nasal infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus and investigated its effect on the prevention of sternal infections.

Methods: The study included 250 consecutive patients (188 males, 62 females; mean age 58.8±13.1 years; range 13 to 90 years) who underwent elective cardiac surgery. Intranasal topical mupirocin was applied to both nasal cavities twice daily from admission to the operation day. The mean length of preoperative nasal mupirocin application was 5.7±2.6 days. Nasal cultures were taken before mupirocin administration and on the second postoperative day.

Results: Preoperatively, normal flora was found in 226 patients (89.6%), S. aureus in 25 patients (10%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae in one patient (0.4%). S. aureus was isolated in one patient who had normal nasal flora preoperatively. Eradication was found unsuccessful in two patients (0.8%) with positive preoperative nasal cultures. No complications were encountered associated with mupirocin use and no S. aureus-related wound site infections were observed.

Conclusion: Nasal mupirocin application was found to be effective and safe in the eradication of nasal staphylococcus infections.

Keywords : Anti-bacterial agents/therapeutic use; antibiotic prophylaxis; infection control; coronary artery bypass; mupirocin/therapeutic use; nasal mucosa/microbiology; staphylococcal infections/ prevention & control; Staphylococcus aureus