The impacts of antibiotic therapy in laparoscopic one anastomosis gastric bypass surgery on anastomotic leaks and wound infections

Background and aims: one of the therapeutic interventions after the onset of anastomotic leak is antibiotic administration, however, there is no clear evidence about the role of continued antibiotic administration after bariatric surgery in preventing wound infections and leak from the anastomosis, therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine this hypothesis. methods: nighty laparoscopic one anastomosis gastric bypass (oagb) candidates were allocated into two equal groups. both groups were matched regarding their age, sex, and preoperative body mass index (bmi). group one received 1500 milligrams (mg) intravenous cefazolin and 750 mg metronidazole just before the surgery. the second group received the same cocktail before the surgery and continued for 48 hours after the surgery as follows: 1500 mg intravenous cefazolin every 6 hours and 750 mg metronidazole every 8 hours. patients were followed for 30 days for detecting any early surgical wound infection and anastomose leakage. t-test, chi-square, and ancova model were used for statistical analysis. results: wound infection was observed in 4.44% and 2.22% of the first and second groups, respectively (p=0.315). one leak was occurred in the second group (p=0.981). after the adjustment was made for confounding variables (age, sex, preoperative bmi, duration of the surgery, and length of hospital stay), anastomosis leak and wound infection rates were not significantly different between groups (0.64 and 0.49, respectively). conclusion: it seems that antibiotic therapy after the oagb does not play a significant role in preventing leak or wound infection, and the surgical method is more important than antibiotic therapy.