Infection study lauds warm skin

LONDON -- Gently warming a patient's skin before an operation could reduce the risk of surgical wound infection by more than 60 percent, new research suggests.

As bacteria that commonly infect surgical wounds become immune to antibiotics -- and therefore more life-threatening -- experts say the heating technique could be a valuable, simple alternative to giving antibiotics before surgery.

The idea behind the approach, described this week in The Lancet medical journal, is that warming the body before cutting into it improves the distribution of oxygen, helping the immune system fight off bacteria that may gather around a wound.

"It's the first really good demonstration in humans that oxygen affects infections," said Dr. Thomas Hunt, a wound healing expert at the University of California, who was not involved in the research.