Septic complications in colo-rectal surgery after 24 hours versus 60 hours of preoperative antibiotic bowel preparation. I. Prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical study.

A prospective, randomized, double-blind study was performed to compare 24 hours and 60 hours of preoperative antibiotic bowel preparation by means of gentamicin + vancomycin + mycostatin. 83 patients undergoing elective colo-rectal operations completed the study (Tablet I), and the two groups proved similar in terms of age, sex, diagnosis, surgical procedures and operation time (Table II). No significant difference in septic complications was found between patients receiving 24 hours and 60 hours of preoperative treatment (Table III). Wound infection occurred significantly more frequently in operations of long duration (Table IV). Cultures made from infected wounds revealed a mixture of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in half of the cases, whereas pure aerobic or anaerobic infections were equally frequent (Table V).