The Impact of Antibiotics Prophylaxis in Elective Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Prospective Randomized Study

ObjectivesTo determine the necessity of a single dose prophylactic antibiotic in preventing the postoperative infective complications in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy.MethodsAll consecutive patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) at King Saud Medical City from 1 January 2010 to 1 May 2011 were considered for this prospective randomized controlled study. Patients who were included in this study were prospectively randomized into two groups: those receiving single dose of intravenous Cefuroxime 1.5 gm, 30 minute before surgery (group A) and those not receiving any preoperative antibiotic (group B). Postoperative infective complications were recorded and compared for both groups.ResultsOne hundred and twelve patients received antibiotics (group A), and 109 patients did not received any antibiotics (group B). In group A, 3 patients developed umbilical port site infection whereas in group B, 5 patients developed infection (four in the umbilical port site and one in the epigastric port site). The differences in the infection rate between the two groups were not significant. Intraoperative gallbladder perforation and positive bile culture was not found to increase the rate of surgical site infection.ConclusionThe elimination of prophylactic antibiotics in patients undergoing elective LC increase the incidence of postoperative infective complications but not to a statistically significant degree.