Prophylactic application of antibiotics in thoracic surgery. Part III.

After a review of the literature on antibiotic prophylaxis in thoracic surgery the authors present their own procedure, and point out the lack of difference between the therapeutic results and the incidence of complications in the groups treated with various antibiotics, and the control groups. Thus, routine prophylaxis is out-of-date, superfluous and even harmful in thoracic surgery. They are against preventive application in every case, but do not claim that antibiotics should never be applied. Pulmonary operations might be considered potentially infected; this, however, is not the same as an indication for prophylaxis. In thoracic surgery, preventive treatment is determined by individual indications and should always be of the aimed type. Antibiotics are dear, but their high price must not prevent their use, though the financial aspects of superfluously performed antibiotic prevention are not negligible.