[Prophylactic use of antibiotics in biliary tract and stomach surgery (author's transl)].

115 patients undergoing elective surgery on biliary tract (80 patients), and stomach (35 patients) for duodenal ulcer were divided into three groups: some received prophylactic antibiotics, cephalothin sodium or sulfamethoxazole trimethoprim and some received none. The antibiotics were started preoperatively and continued postoperatively for three days. The wound infection rate was reduced from 7.1% in the control group to 2.3% in patients treated with cephalothin sodium and 3.2% in sulfamethoxazole trimethoprim treated group. In patients who had biliary tract surgery, the wound infection rate was reduced to 3.3% and 0% with cephalothin sodium and sulfamethoxasole-trimetoprim respectively from 10% in the control group. Only one patient who had gastric surgery who received sulfamethoxasole-trimetoprim prophylactically, developed wound infection postoperatively. The difference between the groups was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). However the wound infection rate was higher in patients who had positive bile culture (p < 0.05).