Preventing infection of the incision after appendectomy by using metronidazole preoperatively to infiltrate tissues at the incision.

METHODS: From January 1991 to July 1995, 260 patients with acute appendicitis were operated on. After excluding 21 patients, the remaining 239 cases were randomly divided into two groups. Group A was given the treatment and group B was the control group. Precisely 0.915 g metronidazole disodium phosphate injection (Tongzhen Pharmaceutical Co., Shan Xi Province, P. R. China) or 25% metronidazole glucose solution was added to 100 mL 0.9% normal saline. After anesthetizing the patients in group A, 60 to 80 mL of the solution was injected into the subcutaneous tissue and muscle. The control group B was given intravenous injection of metronidazole disodium phosphate and cephazolin postoperatively.
RESULTS: In the 119 cases in group A, the rate of incision infection was 0.8%. By contrast, the rate of infection among the 120 cases in group B was 11.6%. The statistical analysis (chi square) was significant, with P < 0.001 showing that preincisional or intraincisional infiltration with metronidazole was effective.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes