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Evidence summaries

Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Hernia Repair

Antibiotic prophylaxis has some clinically unimportant effect in reducing infection rates in elective inguinal hernia repair. Level of evidence: "A"

Administration of antibiotic prophylaxis for elective inguinal hernia repair cannot be suggested because of questionable cost-effectiveness.

A Cochrane review (abstract [Abstract], review [Abstract]) included 17 studies with a total of 7 843 patients. All studies used a penicillin derivative or cephalosporin antibiotic. Overall infection rates were 3.1% and 4.5% in the prophylaxis and control groups, respectively (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.85). The subgroup of patients with herniorrhaphy had infection rates of 3.5% and 4.9% in the prophylaxis and control groups, respectively (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.51 to 1.00). The subgroup of patients with hernioplasty had infection rates of 2.4% and 4.2% in the prophylaxis and control groups, respectively (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.81).

References

  • Sanchez-Manuel FJ, Lozano-García J, Seco-Gil JL. Antibiotic prophylaxis for hernia repair. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2012;2():CD003769. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords