[Review of the actions in prevention of infections in total arthroplasty of hip]. / Revisión de las acciones para prevenir infecciones en la artroplastía total de cadera.

The prophylactic use of antibiotics when a hip replacement procedure is performed has been subject of intense debate. Prevention of such an infection is complex, with many unresolved issues that require considerable investigation. The attentive application of reasonable principles of infection control with the goals of optimization of the wound environment, augmentation of the host response, and minimization of bacterial contamination in the preoperative, and postoperative time-period is essential to that overall reduction of the frequency of infection. We present the antibiotic prophylaxis used in the American British Cowdray Medical Center between January 1999 to July 2003. after hip arthroplasty in 532 patients. The main antibiotic used was cefalotin in 53.76% of the cases, but only in 3.2 % a one day prophylaxis treatment recommended in the literature is used, with septic loosening of 3.9%.