DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2014.v02i02.008

Pages: 522-525

Surgical site infections are primarily responsible for the postoperative morbidity and also it increases the cost of illness. To avoid these complications the surgeons usually prefer antibiotic prophylaxis. However there are many controversial opinions for the timing of administering the antibiotics. Most of the guidelines support that the beneficial time for prophylaxis is in between 30 – 60 min prior to the procedure. The duration of the surgical procedure and half-life of the administered antibiotic should be considered when determining the need for an additional intraoperative dose. Expert’s opinion from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and other guidelines, recommends continuing prophylaxis for up to 72 h after the operation. But many evidence based studies also suggest that prophylactic antibiotics do not add any benefit rather than they increase the emergence of resistant pathogens. Hence the practitioners should take into account the patient and pathogen factors, technical aspects, and duration of the procedure while administering the prophylactic antibiotics. In addition to this they must also consider the need of prophylaxis out of their experience.