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This study compared the contamination of surgical scrub suits resulting from 3 different systems of exposure. Participants were 75 residents, midwives, physician assistants, and medical students from the obstetric service of the authors' hospital. Participants were divided into 3 groups of 25. The first group covered their scrub suits with a laboratory coat or other protective covering whenever they were outside designated sterile areas. Group 2 wore no protective clothing but remained inside the hospital. Group 3 wore unprotected scrub suits outside the hospital. Contamination was measured using square pieces of fabric, which were cut from scrub suits taken directly from an automatic dispenser in the obstetric suite. The 1 ϫ 1-inch-sized tags were attached under sterile conditions to the chest pocket and the waist area of the back of the scrub top. The squares were worn for 4 hours of normal activity and then removed and cultured in 2 different media, enhanced broth and blood agar. The rate of contamination was statistically similar in all exposure groups. Approximately half of the fabric samples were positive at 24 hours. Thirty-eight percent to 70% of squares from all groups were positive in either broth or agar at 24 or 48 hours with no significant differences in either group or medium. Almost all samples showed Gram-positive nonhemolytic cocci in clusters. One sample each were Gram-positive hemolytic cocci in clusters and Gram-positive hemolytic cocci in chains. Control samples, cut from the same fabric as the study squares and cultured without exposure, were all free of contamination. GYNECOLOGYVolume 58, Number 9 OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL SURVEY ABSTRACTThis study was undertaken to compare laparotomy with laparoscopic cystectomy for the treatment of mature teratoma. Study subjects were premenopausal, nonpregnant women with ultrasonographically diagnosed unilateral teratoma of less than 10 cm. They were randomized to be treated with laparotomy or laparoscopic cystectomy (n ϭ 20 each). Women were seen 15 days postoperatively and returned for clinical and ultrasonographic examination every 6 months for 5 years. In both laparotomy and laparoscopic cystectomy, a small incision in the ovarian cortex was made and a cleavage plane between the cyst and the ovary developed. Using bipolar coagulation and scissors, fibrous adhesions were dissected and the cyst excised. Vessels near the hilum of the ovary were sealed and the bleeding was controlled. In both the laparoscopic and open techniques, no sutures were placed in the ovary, which was left open. In laparoscopy, the excised cyst was inserted into an endoscopic bag that was pulled, using its drawstring, into the 10-mm suprapubic port until the drawstring and edges of the bag were outside the abdominal cavity. The cyst was accessed through the port and decompressed using conventional surgical instruments and aspiration. Liquid contents and solid components of the cyst were aspirated. If the decompressed cyst would not fit through the 10-mm port, the abdominal in...