Antibiotic prophylaxis in genitourinary surgery.

Antibiotic prophylaxis in surgery, particularly genitourinary surgery, has been controversial for years. At best, the results have been more testimonial than scientific because of the failure to observe proper experimental design. A survey of the literature indicates that antibiotic prophylaxis in genitourinary surgery probably has little influence on postoperative fever; it appears to favorably affect the incidence of postoperative bacteriuria and bacteremia in the short term without encouraging nosocomial or resistant infections. The regimen for prophylaxis must be perioperative and continued for no longer than 24 hours postoperatively. Given that antibiotic prophylaxis in elective genitourinary surgery has merit, a comparison between cefazolin and cefotaxime was undertaken. Of 160 evaluable cases, a total of 23 patients had positive cultures within the first nine days; only two occurred within the first five days. When cefazolin and cefotaxime were administered in the same dosage regimen, the infection rate for cefazolin was 19% compared with 10% for cefotaxime.