Objective: To compare the efficacy of double gloving with an inner coloured pair of gloves and double gloving with classic gloves, for prompt detection of perforation during a single standard operation.
Design: Prospective, randomised study.
Setting: Teaching hospital, France.
Subjects: 100 Consecutive patients with haematological malignancy or AIDS, who were referred for implantation of a vascular access port.
Interventions: Insertion of a central line with an implantable chamber under local anaesthesia. The use of double gloving with an inner coloured pair or with classic gloves was decided preoperatively by random allocation.
Main outcome measures: Visual detection of one or more perforations on one or more gloves during operation, localisation of the perforation(s), and post-operative evaluation of the water tightness of the gloves.
Results: There were a total of 14 perforations of the outer gloves, 9 were detected during operation in the coloured inner pair group compared with none in the standard gloves group. Postoperative testing showed that there were no undetected perforations in the coloured inner pair group compared with 5 in the standard gloves group.
Conclusions: Double gloving with a coloured inner pair is effective in the peroperative detection of accidental perforations in surgical gloves.