A randomized prospective evaluation of orally administered antibiotics in operations on the colon.

In this randomized, prospective study of 91 patients undergoing operations on the colon, we found that neomycin, neomycin-phthalylsulfathiazole and neomycin-erythromycin base all provided adequate intestinal antisepsis. Wound infection rates for all groups were also similar and close to the national average for operations on the colon. A detailed analysis of the wound infections in our series revealed that 60 per cent of these infections were from organisms different from those found on the colonic mucosa. This evidence indicates the possible advantage of parenteral antibiotic therapy to achieve adequate tissue levels of antibiotics not presently possible with orally administered agents.