Antibiotic prophylaxis in shunt surgery.

A system of antibiotic prophylaxis has recently been described which is said to lower the incidence of wound infection in various surgical procedures, and which also evades the problem of increase in resistant bacteria. In the investigation reported here, this system was applied to the prevention of colonisation following shunt surgery and was found to have no beneficial effect. It is suggested that this finding may be peculiar to operations involving the implantation of hollow devices.