Are preoperative antibiotics helpful in abdominal hysterectomy?

An open, randomized study to compare the effectiveness of triple-dose cefoxitin with the effectiveness of cephradine-tinidazole and with the result of nontreatment in patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy was conducted from July 1983 to July 1984. One hundred ninety-nine patients were enrolled: 66 untreated control patients, 69 patients in the cephradine-tinidazole--treated group, and 64 patients in the cefoxitin-treated group. No significant differences were present in relation to age, pathologic condition, length of operation, blood loss, or length of hospital stay. That patients in both treatment groups had a lower incidence of postoperative febrile morbidity was not statistically significant.