Effect of Drain Care on Infection Rate and Quality of Life in Implant-Based Breast Reconstruction.

April 28, 2026 updated by: Stephen Colbert, University of Missouri-Columbia

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether showering with surgical drain tubes in place after first stage breast reconstruction causes increased risk of infection. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Is there an increased risk of infection/complications with showering 48 hours after drain tubes are in place
  • Does showering after 48 hours with drain tubes in place affect quality of life.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

SSI (soft tissue infection) is an aggravating risk specifically associated with implants. Breast reconstruction quotes infection rates anywhere from 1-35% while cosmetic augmentations quote rates around 1.5%. Usually, the causative organisms are skin flora like Staph aureus and Staph epidermidis. Occasionally mycobacterium and other atypical bacterium are isolated more commonly in the immunocompromised. Despite perioperative antibiotics, SSI is still a prevalent complication increasing total expenditure of patients and hospital systems upwards of $4000/patient in reoperation fees and hospital stay costs. Skin prep and antibiotics in the preoperative phase is very important to the sterile technique and decreasing risk of infection by decreasing bacterial load at the time of incision and surgery. However, postoperative care and interventions are less strictly evaluated and defined. Currently, there is no standard of care in regards to showering post operatively with JP (Jackson-Pratt) drains in place. Timing of showering is ultimately based on surgeon preference. In practice, the investigators routinely have had patients wait to shower until the JP drains are removed. The investigators hypothesize that showering daily, even with drains in place, will not increase rates of infection in breast reconstruction and perhaps improve quality of life during first stage. This study is prospective with participants randomized to either shower daily after 48hrs or standard of care and shower after drains removed. The participants will be asked to fill out a quality of life survey 90 days after enrollment. The patients will also be monitored for signs of infection for 90 days.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Missouri
      • Columbia, Missouri, United States, 65212
        • Recruiting
        • University of Missouri
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Stephen Colbert, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Sarah Langsdon, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Tindal Mclaurin, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Ameya Chumble, MD

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • undergoing breast surgery with placement of tissue expander and drains, acceptance of protocol and procedures, age > 18

Exclusion Criteria:

  • no existing wounds, previous infections related to implant device if delayed, refusal by patient

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Showering 48 hours after Surgery
Group 1 will be allowed to shower 48 hours after surgery with drain tubes still in place.
Other: Showering 48 hours after surgery
The main intervention is allowing patients to shower 48 hours after surgery
No Intervention: Showering after drain tubes are removed
Group 2 will not be allowed to shower until drain tubes are removed.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Presence of Post Operative Infection
Time Frame: 90 days
The primary outcome measure will be the presence of infection as judged by the non blinded attending surgeon within the 90 day time frame during post operative evaluations. A breast infection is defined as increased erythema, warmth, and pain at the breast or systemic symptoms such as fevers and chills. Breast infections will be treated with a course of IV antibiotics and possible tissue expander removal and breast pocket irrigation and debridement in the operating room. If the attending physician determines that an infection is present any time during the treatment period the patient will be categorized as infected.
90 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quality of Life Survey
Time Frame: 90 days
Subjects will complete a survey at 90 days using a scale from 0 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) indicating how showering or not showering with drain tubes in place affected their quality of life.
90 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Missouri-Columbia

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 15, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 15, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 15, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 5, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 26, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

May 6, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 5, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 28, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2092673

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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