Pre- and postoperative rectal metronidazole for the prevention of wound infection in childhood appendicitis.

Children suspected of having appendicitis were treated with preoperative metronidazole per rectum and then postoperative metronidazole per rectum until the drug could be administered orally. This series shows that even when administered after anesthetic induction, an adequate blood level of metronidazole was achieved at surgery. Other antibiotics were not used even when there was peritonitis. The wound infection rate in this small series was low, when compared to other series and our own comparison group.