Antimicrobial prophylaxis with ceftriaxone in laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a 7-year clinical experience involving 3,603 patients.

This study is one of the first in the literature with the aim of assessing the effectiveness of antimicrobial prophylaxis with a single preoperative dose of long-acting ceftriaxone in a retrospective analysis of 3,603 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. All patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy between October 1990 and December 1997 were reviewed. Antimicrobial prophylaxis with a single dose of ceftriaxone (1 g) was given intravenously at the induction of anesthesia. Patients were closely monitored for infections until 4 weeks after surgery. Postoperative infections occurred in 44 of the 3,603 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, with an infection rate of 1.22%. The infectious complications mainly comprised wound infections (n=13) but also included intra-abdominal abscesses (n=3), pneumonia (n=9), urinary tract infections (n=3) and other infections (n=16). The results of this retrospective and non-randomized study, show that a single-shot regimen containing ceftriaxone may be a cost-effective measure in preventing postoperative infections in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.