The Role of Prophylactic Antibiotics in Prevention of Wound Infections in Open Appendectomy Patients in Al-Diwaniayh Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Knowing how, when, and what types of antibiotics should be used before and after an appendectomy is a very important subject for this very common intra-abdominal procedure that is performed in an emergency setting. This subject reflects the positive results of the procedure on the reduction of infectious complications, such as surgical site infection or intra-abdominal abcess. Post-operatively, we divided patients who had a non-perforated appendix into two groups: group A received pre-operative antibiotics half an hour before surgery with a single dose of 3rd generation cephalosporin (ceftriaxone)1g and metronidazole 500mg, and group B received antibiotics half an hour pre-operatively and continued antibiotics post-operatively within 24 hours. Both groups received antibiotics post-operatively. 240 patients were randomly selected and separated into two groups with an identical number in each. Of the 120 patients in group A, eight of them developed a wound infection (6.67%), and the same number of patients in group B also became infected. The 30-day follow-up period came and went without anyone developing an intra-abdominal infection. The use of a single dosage of antibiotic will be sufficient to prevent infection at the surgical site, and the advantage of post-operative antibiotic treatment in non-perforated appendix will be imperceptible.