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Competing Interests: The authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect on donor rim cultures and postoperative infections of doubling the povidone-iodine exposure time during corneal tissue recovery before its use in keratoplasty., Methods: Consecutive donor cornea recoveries were evaluated for positive donor corneal rim cultures and postoperative infections before and after a protocol change of doubling the exposure time of povidone-iodine during donor preparation., Results: In 631 consecutive cornea donor recoveries, 18 (2.9%) had positive fungal rim cultures and 41 (6.5%) had positive bacterial rim cultures. Three (0.48%) developed postoperative fungal infections, and no bacterial infections occurred. After doubling the povidone-iodine exposure time during the recovery process, 725 consecutive corneas were reviewed. Four (0.6%) had positive fungal rim cultures, and 29 (4.0%) had positive bacterial rim cultures. No postoperative fungal or bacterial infections occurred. No noticeable increase in epithelial toxicity developed between the 2 groups., Conclusions: Increasing the povidone-iodine exposure time during the donor cornea recovery process decreased the rate of positive donor corneal rim fungal cultures (P = 0.001), positive donor corneal rim bacterial cultures (P = 0.04), and postoperative fungal infections (P = 0.06).

A retrospective study of 50 patients was undertaken to observe the postoperative side effects experienced by patients undergoing metrizamide (Amipaque) myelography followed by laminectomy on the same day and to compare them with side effects experienced if the laminectomy was postponed at least one day. Results documented that the incidence of nausea was statistically greater in Group 1 (myelogram and surgery the same day) than in Group 2 (delayed surgery). While the occurrence of vomiting and headache in Group 1 was also greater, the numbers did not reach statistical significance. Group 1 did require significantly more doses of antiemetics for a longer period of time. The groups did not differ in the length of time an intravenous (IV) infusion was in place, but Group 1 patients required a significantly greater number of urinary catheterizations for retention and residual for longer than three days. The length of stay and the time from surgery to discharge was the same for both groups.