Table 5. Skin colonization results.

	Number of Colony Forming Units
Group I	HMa agar	Blood agar	EMBb agar	Sabouraud agar
Pre dressing (n = 100)
Range	0–300	0–300	0–5	0–26
Median ± IQRc	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0
Mean ± SDd	4.5 ± 30.1	5.4 ± 30.5	0.1 ± 0.5	0.3 ± 2.6
Postoperative day 1 (n = 100)
Range	0–300	0–300	0–5	0–17
Median ± IQRc	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0
Mean ± SDd	4.2 ± 30.4	4.5 ± 31.2	0.1 ± 0.5	0.2 ± 1.8
Postoperative day 6 (n = 94)
Range	0–300	0–300	0–300	0–300
Median ± IQRc	4 ± 30.8	2 ± 34.8	0 ± 0	0 ± 0
Mean ± SDd	40.6 ± 85.6	43.7 ± 87.7	7.5 ± 43.8	3.3 ± 30.9
Pre vs. day 1 vs. day 6 (Friedman test)	p = 0.000 Pre and day 1 < day 6	p < 0.0001 Pre and day 1 < day 6	p = 0.713	p = 0.976
Group II
Pre dressing (n = 100)
Range	0–86	0–300	0–51	0–0
Median ± IQRc	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0
Mean ± SDd	3.8 ± 13.9	8.2 ± 35.1	0.5 ± 5.1	0 ± 0
Postoperative day 6 (n = 92)
Range	0–300	0–300	0–0	0–0
Median ± IQRc	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0	0 ± 0
Mean ± SDd	8.9 ± 44.5	11.4 ± 48.6	0 ± 0	0 ± 0
Pre vs. day 6 (Wilcoxon test)	p = 0.879	p = 0.811	p = 0.317	-
Group I vs. Group II (Mann-Whitney U test)
Pre dressing	p = 0.883	p = 0.875	p = 0.999	p = 0.807
Postoperative day 6	p < 0.000 Group I > Group II	p < 0.0001 Group I > Group II	p = 0.380	p = 0.616

^aHM: hypertonic manitol

^bEMB: eosin-methylene blue

^cIQR: interquartile range

^dSD: standard deviation