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Influence of a strictly perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis vs a prolonged postoperative prophylaxis on surgical site infections in maxillofacial surgery

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Abstract

Purpose

The adequate perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis in maxillofacial surgery is still under discussion due to the wide range of hard and soft tissue procedures as well as contaminated, semi-contaminated and clean surgical sides. Perioperative antibiosis is an easy applicable tool that can be used to decrease nosocomial morbidity and mortality by reducing the rate of infections. We compared strictly perioperative antibiosis with an extended postoperative prophylactic antibiosis.

Materials and methods

In this study, 901 consecutive patients, from a tertiary care maxillofacial surgery department were included and distributed into two groups: The first group received peri- and postoperative antibiotic prophylaxis (PP; n = 365) from the day of operation until the fifth day postoperatively. The second group was treated with single shot prophylaxis with intraoperative repetition as needed (SSP; n = 536) only. Furthermore, the patients were grouped according to their main diagnosis and surgical procedure. For comparison, general anamnestic data, cultured bacteria and resistances, number of surgical site infections and duration of hospitalization were compared.

Results

There were no statistically significant differences in general diseases or extent of surgery between the groups. There was no statistical difference in the surgical site infections between the groups regardless of their diagnosis. There were significant correlations between tracheotomised patients (p < 0.001) as well as patients with a higher BMI (p = 0.009) and the incidence of surgical site infections. Most common cultured bacteria were staphylococci.

Conclusion

Based on the findings of the study, we believe that a perioperative antibiosis delivers a sufficient prophylaxis for patients undergoing maxillofacial surgery procedures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oral, Maxillofacial and Plastic Facial Surgery, University Hospital of Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    Alexander K. Bartella, Aida Burnic, Anita Kloss-Brandstätter, Mohammad Kamal, Frank Hölzle & Bernd Lethaus

  2. Department of Infection Control and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital of Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    Sebastian Lemmen

  3. Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Europastrasse 4, 9524, Villach, Austria

    Anita Kloss-Brandstätter

  4. Institute for Health and Social Issues, FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management in Munich, Arnulfstraße 30, 80335, Munich, Germany

    Thomas Breisach

Authors
  1. Alexander K. Bartella
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  2. Sebastian Lemmen
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  3. Aida Burnic
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Correspondence to Alexander K. Bartella.

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Bartella, A.K., Lemmen, S., Burnic, A. et al. Influence of a strictly perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis vs a prolonged postoperative prophylaxis on surgical site infections in maxillofacial surgery. Infection 46, 225–230 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-017-1110-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-017-1110-4

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