Role of prophylactic antibiotic administration in severe acute pancreatitis: a meta-analysis.
OBJECTIVE
To carry out a meta-analysis of published studies in order to evaluate the clinical efficacy of prophylactic antibiotics in severe acute pancreatitis (SAP).


METHODS
MEDLINE, China Biological Medicine, Embase and Cochrane Data Base for Systematic Reviews were searched for randomized controlled trials on the efficacy of prophylactic antibiotics in patients with SAP from 1966 to 2004. Six studies met our inclusion criteria. Two authors (G.S.X. and Z.H.W.) independently extracted the following data from these studies: trial design, characteristics of participants and outcomes. Data were analyzed by Revman 4.2 software.


RESULTS
In patients with SAP, prophylactic antibiotics, including broad-spectrum antibiotics that usually achieve therapeutic pancreatic tissue levels, did not reduce pancreatic infection (relative risk, RR, 0.77, 95% confidence interval 0.48-1.24, p = 0.28), surgical intervention (RR 0.84, 95% confidence interval 0.40-1.74, p = 0.64) and mortality rate (RR 0.54, 95% confidence interval 0.28-1.04, p = 0.07).


CONCLUSIONS
Prophylactic antibiotic administration is not an appropriate treatment strategy in patients with SAP, it should be limited in patients with pancreatic necrosis, as demonstrated by computerized tomography.
Xiong
Guang-Su
GS
Renji Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai, PR China.
Wu
Shu-Ming
SM
Wang
Zheng-Hua
ZH
D000208:Acute Disease; D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D006801:Humans; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic