The effect of antibiotic prophylaxis on wound infections after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: A randomised clinical trial

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether the use of prophylactic antibiotics had any effects on the development of postoperative surgical wound infections between laparoscopic cholecystectomy patients. Patients who received a single dose of prophylactic antibiotics prior to surgery were included in the prophylaxis group, and those who did not receive preoperative and postoperative intravenous and/or oral antibiotics were included in the no prophylaxis group. A total of 206 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy were examined; the infection rate in patients who received prophylaxis was 4.5%, while it was 4.2% in the non-prophylactic group. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of infection development rates (P > .05). We suggest that antibiotics should not be given for prophylaxis before low-risk laparoscopic cholecystectomy as there is no statistically significant difference in the rate of postoperative wound infection among patients who were either given or not given prophylaxis.