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Perioperative prophylaxis with sulbactam and ampicillin compared with metronidazole and cefotaxime in the prevention of wound infection in children undergoing appendectomy.

Author(s): Foster MC, Morris DL, Legan C, Kapila L, Slack RC

Affiliation(s): Department of Surgery, City Hospital, Nottingham, England.

Publication date & source: 1987-09, J Pediatr Surg., 22(9):869-72.

Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial

Sulbactam is a beta-lactamase inhibitor, which when administered with ampicillin, increases the latter agents antibacterial activity against beta-lactamase producing organisms. One hundred children between the ages of 5 and 14 undergoing emergency appendectomy were entered into a prospective randomized trial comparing sulbactam and ampicillin (SA) with metronidazole and cefotaxime (MC) as prophylaxis against postoperative wound infection. Patients in whom the appendix was perforated or gangrenous received a 72-hour course of antibiotics, others received a single dose only. The overall wound infection rate was 8% (14% in patients with perforation or gangrene and 4% in those without). There was no difference in infection rate between the two antibiotic groups; there were three wound infections and one subphrenic abscess in patients receiving SA and four wound infections in patients receiving MC. SA, therefore, appears to be a suitable antibiotic combination for use as prophylaxis in appendicitis in children.

Page last updated: 2006-01-31

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