A comparative study between a single-dose and 24-hour multiple-dose antibiotic prophylaxis for elective hysterectomy

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are a major health issue in surgical specialties in terms of health care costs and patients' clinical outcomes. At the level of the patient, prolonged hospital stays or readmissions for SSIs, can affect the patient's quality of life. At the level of the health care system, it exhausts the hospital's resources and increases the burden on the medical staff due to the need for continuous wound care, microbiological cultures, laboratory tests and medications. In this study, we assessed the effectiveness of two antibiotic prophylaxis regimens for the prevention of SSIs in patients undergoing elective hysterectomy surgeries. A retrospective cohort, analyzing 141 patients, was conducted between November 2016 and January 2019 at a university hospital. We compared the efficacy of a single dose vs. 24-hour multiple doses of Cefazolin in patients who underwent elective hysterectomy for benign or malignant indications. The secondary objective was to identify potential risk factors associated with SSIs. There was no statistically significant difference between both groups (p = 0.872). Obesity and a laparotomy surgical approach are risk factors to the development of SSIs (p = 0.001 and 0.014, respectively). Other potential risk factors include the duration of hospital stay, the duration of the surgery and the amount of blood loss. Although the rate of SSIs is not significantly different between both groups, risk stratification can be done after screening patients and the prophylactic regimen must be tailored for each patient in a cost-effective manner and using a multidisciplinary approach.