Intraoperative antibiotic irrigation as prophylaxis in abdominal hysterectomy: a preliminary report.

A preliminary report regarding the use of an intraoperative, intraperitoneal antibiotic solution in patients having transabdominal hysterectomy reveals that the postoperative morbidity assessed by the diagnosis of cuff cellulitis or pelvic abscess was 4.7%. This morbidity represents a substantial reduction in the incidence of cuff cellulitis (27.0%) noted in a comparison group of 367 patients having abdominal hysterectomy at our institution during a two-year period. These preliminary data strongly suggest that antibiotic solutions given intraperitoneally at the time of abdominal hysterectomy reduce morbidity due to cuff cellulitis.