Effect of prophylactic antibiotics in radical head and neck surgery.

One hundred major head and neck operations performed on 77 patients were evaluated regarding the effectiveness of an aminoglycoside and cephalosporin antibiotic combination given prophylactically to prevent postoperative infection. The postoperative infection incidence was 6%, significantly lower than that reported in similar series where no antibiotics were used. The addition of the aminoglycoside did not appear to provide any additional protection compared with the use of cephalosporin alone.