Systemic antibiotic prophylaxis and reconstructive ear surgery.

This paper reports a multicentre, controlled, blind, prospective, randomized study into the use of prophylactic systemic antibiotics in myringoplasty surgery. Seventy-one individuals were clinically and bacteriologically assessed both preoperatively, and for a period of 8 weeks postoperatively. The results showed that antibiotic prophylaxis did not eradicate bacterial pathogens already present in preoperative ears, nor did it prevent their development during the postoperative period. The observation that an ear was wet or dry gave no indication of the actual presence or absence of pathogenic organisms.