[Preventive antibiotic therapy and postoperative infection in orthopedic surgery. 1983 total hip prostheses].

In a previous paper the authors studied the role of aerobio-contamination in the rate of post-operative infections. In the present study, the results of 1,172 total hip prostheses performed between 1979/1982 with prophylactic antibiotics were compared with those obtained in 811 cases performed before 1979 without antibiotics. In the 1979/1982 series, there was 0,5 p. 100 of post-operative infection and in the pre- 1979 series, 3,3 p. 100. During the two periods the peri-operative environment was identical and the surgical technique was the same. The rate of infection in more than 8,000 other surgical procedures performed in the same hospital remained the same. The use of prophylactic antibiotics appears to be a valid approach. They should be used only in high-risk procedures to avoid the selective production of resistant organisms.