Systemic plus local metronidazole and cephazolin in complicated appendicitis: a prospective controlled trial.

Appendicectomy was performed on 100 patients with complicated appendicitis through a grid-iron incision. All patients received systemic metronidazole and cephazolin sodium which started preoperatively and continued postoperatively for 5 days. At operation, patients were allocated randomly to receive either local instillation of metronidazole and cephazolin intraperitoneally and interparietally (group A) or no local antibiotic therapy (group B). All wounds were closed primarily without drainage. Postoperative wound sepsis occurred in four (8%) of the 50 patients in group A and in 17 (34%) of the 50 patients in group B. One patient in group B developed pelvic abscess in addition to wound sepsis. The mean duration of postoperative hospital stay was 6.6 days (s.d. 2.98) in group A and 8.7 days (s.d. 5.55) in group B. These differences were statistically significant. No adverse reaction was noted. The conclusion of this study is that a single peroperative instillation of metronidazole and cephazolin into the peritoneum and wound layers is a safe and valuable adjunct to the perioperative systemic administration of these drugs in significantly reducing postoperative sepsis and duration of hospital stay in complicated appendicitis.

The place of antibiotics in the prevention of post-appendicectomy sepsis: a prospective study of 400 cases.

Post-appendicectomy sepsis still causes considerable morbidity and prolongs hospital stay. A large amount of recent work has gone into attempts to reduce such problems using various topical and systemic agents in differing regimes, with wide variation in their results. The aim of our study was to examine further the effectiveness of those different lines of prophylaxis against placebo in reducing post-appendicectomy sepsis. It is a comparative study of 400 cases of uncomplicated appendicitis operated upon by three senior Surgeons. The cases were allocated randomly in equal number to four groups according to the prophylactic antibiotic regime used: (a) Placebo; (b) Metronidazole alone; (c) Metronidazole and cefazolin; (d) Metronidazole and tobramycin. Antibiotics were given preoperatively with premedication and continued postoperatively for three days. The patients were checked for signs of sepsis during hospital stay and weekly up to a minimum of four weeks after discharge. They were also compared as far as their hospital stay is concerned. The conclusion of this study is that a combination of an antibiotic aimed at aerobes (cefazolin or tobramycin) with another aiming at anaerobes (metronidazole) is the best prophylactic regime against post-appendicectomy sepsis.