Effectiveness of short-term antibiotic prophylaxis on postoperative recovery course after pulmonary lobectomies.
BACKGROUND
Postoperative pneumonia is a major cause of mortality and morbidity after lung surgery. The effectiveness of prophylactic antibiotics for preventing postoperative pneumonia and the recovery course after pulmonary lobectomy is still not clarified yet. We conducted this study to evaluate the effectiveness of prophylactic antibiotics on the post-operative recovery course after pulmonary lobectomies.


METHODS
Forty-five cases undergoing pulmonary lobectomies between June 2002 and January 2003 were enrolled in this prospective study. Each patient received prophylactic antibiotics of cefuroxime and sisomicin. Sputum culture upon admission and swab culture from the bronchus cut-end during operation were obtained. The clinical vital signs including heart rates, respiratory rates and core body temperature in the postoperative recovery courses were analyzed.


RESULTS
Four (8.9%) patients developed pneumonia after lobectomies, and pneumonia occurred only in patients who had positive culture results from bronchial cut-end. The organisms cultured from the sputum seemed to be controlled by prophylactic antibiotics. All the organisms cultured in the bronchus cut-end differed from those in the sputum; it denoted these pathogens were inoculated during anesthesia for surgical operation. The postoperative vital signs including tachycardia and fever improved gradually in the initial 3 days. Patients with pneumonia sustained significant higher fever than the non-pneumonic patients during postoperative course.


CONCLUSIONS
The short-term combination of cefuroxime and sisomicin offers sufficient effectiveness in prophylaxis of pneumonia after pulmonary surgery. Positive bronchial cut-end cultures were related to the post-lobectomy pneumonia significantly. Body temperature was the most useful presenting vital sign for early detection of the postoperative pneumonia.
Lin
Chen-Sung
CS
Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei-Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Hsu
Wen-Hu
WH
Wu
Yu-Chung
YC
Huang
Wen-Chieh
WC
Wang
Chien-Ying
CY
Huang
Min-Hsiung
MH
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis; D002444:Cefuroxime / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D018307:Neoplasms, Squamous Cell / Q000601:surgery; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D012853:Sisomicin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D002444:Cefuroxime; D012853:Sisomicin