Perioperative antibiotic reduces the incidence of infection in clean laminectomy patients

ABSTRACT

During the years 1991-92, one hundred patients who were operated upon for lumbar disc disease or spinal stenosis were evaluated for the possible role of prophylactic antibiotics. The patients were randomly divided in three groups namely A, B and C. Group A was not administered any antibiotic during or after surgery. In Group B, each patient was injected 500 mg of AMIKIN [Amikacin] locally in the wound after closing the incision. Group C patients were administered 500 mg of AMIKIN [amikacin] intravenously after induction of anaesthesia at the time of incision. Patients suffering from diabetes, inflammatory disease or neoplasia were excluded from this study. Postoperative results were evaluated for wound sepsis. The overall incidence of wound sepsis was found to be 3% and all these cases belonged to group A [no antibiotic group]. Mild post operative pyrexia was least common among the patients in group B [local antibiotic group]. Staphylococcus aureus was the offending organism cultured from the septic wounds