Abstract

Aim : The purpose of the present study was to assess the efficacy of an empiric peri-operative prophylactic regimen in prevention of surgical site infections (SSI), using cefoperazone & sulbactam combination to be followed by oral switch over therapy with cefditoren.

Material and Methods: It was an open, non comparative, multicentric, post-marketing surveillance study of 190 patients from 95 surgical centers, spread across India, undergoing various types of emergency and elective surgeries. Patients were categorized according to the type of operative wound as "clean", "clean contaminated", "contaminated" and "dirty". They were evaluated according to the Southampton scoring system.

Result: The rate of SSI in general was 7.36%. The observed rate of SSI for patients with dirty wounds was 3.92% whereas it was 3.07%, 6.38% and 25.9% for clean, clean contaminated and contaminated wounds respectively. The global wound score got reduced from 12.89 on day 1 to 2.75 on day 8 (p<0.01).

Conclusion: This is the first study clearly providing the efficacy data to reduce the incidence of SSI with the peri-operative antibiotic regimen of `Zostum', consisting of cefoperazone & Sulbactam for an average duration of 5 days followed by switch over to oral antibiotic prophylaxis with `Zostum 0', containing cefditoren. The result of the present study shows a superior outcome as compared to earlier studies in peri-operative prophylaxis conducted with single cephalosporins. In conclusion, this regimen is highly effective and can be adapted for wide varieties of surgeries.