A double-blind trial of single-dose chemoprophylaxis with co-trimoxazole during total abdominal hysterectomy.

Thirty patients received 10 ml co-trimoxazole and 29 a placebo by intravenous infusion during one hour from induction of anaesthesia for total abdominal hysterectomy. The incidence of postoperative urinary tract infections was significantly lower in patients who had received co-trimoxazole. Co-trimoxazole was also found to inhibit postoperative colonization of the upper vagina with Escherichia coli. The incidences of postoperative pyrexia (38 degrees C or over) and both early and late abdominal wound abscess formation were almost identical in the two groups of patients.