Antibiotic prophylaxis in laparoendoscopic hernia surgery

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Whether antibiotic prophylaxis can really reduce the rate of surgical site infections (SSIs) or rather tends to increase the risk of antimicrobial resistance development is being increasingly questioned even for elective surgery in a clean surgical field. Since compared with the open technique, the laparoendoscopic technique per se reduces the SSI rate, that possibility must also be considered for laparoendoscopic repair of inguinal and abdominal wall hernias despite these techniques always using a mesh as a foreign body. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic search of the literature was conducted in Medline/PubMed and the Cochrane database. Thirty-two relevant publications were identified. RESULTS: Overall, there is a paucity of studies on antibiotic prophylaxis in laparoendoscopic hernia surgery. Those studies available are not able to demonstrate that the use of antibiotic prophylaxis in laparoendoscopic repair of inguinal and abdominal wall hernias has a definite effect on the SSI rate. Hence, antibiotic prophylaxis can be omitted with for patients with no risk factors. But that does not apply for patients with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, emergency surgery, contaminated surgical field, recurrent hernia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, prior SSI, long operative time, and other factors influencing the SSI rate. CONCLUSION: Further studies are urgently needed on antibiotic prophylaxis in laparoendoscopic hernia surgery in particular in association with risk factors.