Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis in abdominal surgery for hernia repair: retrospective study of 1,524 consecutive patients.

In the surgical units of our Division, from January 1979 to December 1989, the infection rate in surgical groin hernia repair was much higher than expected, in comparison to other reports in the literature. In order to evaluate if correct preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis could decrease the incidence of postoperative infections (wound, urinary and respiratory tract) after abdominal wall hernia repair surgery, a total of 1,524 consecutive patients undergoing this type of procedure were reviewed between January 1990 and December 1996. The patients were divided in three different groups, according to the antibiotic prophylaxis regimen: i) group A: 606 patients (39.8%) treated with ceftriaxone; ii) group B: 408 patients (26.8%) treated with pefloxacin; and iii) group C: 510 patients (33.4%) treated with different regimens using either cephalosporins or quinolones other than ceftriaxone and pefloxacin. Only 1 surgical wound infection was observed (0.06%). The tolerability was good: no significant side effects related to antibiotic prophylaxis were recorded in our experience. In this study, even though retrospective, single-dose ceftriaxone proved to be a valid and cost-effective choice in antibiotic prophylaxis.