Multicenter prospective randomized phase II study of antimicrobial prophylaxis in low-risk patients undergoing colon surgery.
OBJECTIVE
Postoperative antimicrobial therapy is generally administered as standard prophylaxis against postoperative infection, despite a lack of sufficient evidence for its usefulness. This study was a phase II study to evaluate the necessity of postoperative antibiotic prophylaxis in patients undergoing a colectomy.


METHODS
Patients received 1 g cefmetazole or flomoxef immediately after anesthetic induction, every 3 h during surgery, and then later once again on the next day. They were randomly assigned to receive either cefmetazole or flomoxef.


RESULTS
Ninety-one patients were enrolled in the study. A surgical site infection (SSI) occurred in 7.7% (7/91) of patients. All cases were superficial incisional infections. When comparing the two drugs, SSI occurred in 8.3% (4/48) of patients treated with cefmetazole and in 7.0% (3/43) treated with flomoxef, showing no significant difference (P > 0.99).


CONCLUSIONS
Antimicrobial prophylaxis was well tolerated when used on the day of a colectomy and once again on the next day.
Shimizu
Junzo
J
Department of Surgery, Toyonaka Municipal Hospital, 4-14-1 Shibahara-cho, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8565, Japan.
Ikeda
Kimimasa
K
Fukunaga
Mutsumi
M
Murata
Kohei
K
Miyamoto
Atsushi
A
Umeshita
Koji
K
Kobayashi
Tetsuro
T
Monden
Morito
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis / Q000379:methods*; D015311:Cefmetazole / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002511:Cephalosporins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003082:Colectomy; D003108:Colonic Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D002511:Cephalosporins; D015311:Cefmetazole; C045693:flomoxef