Comparison between one and two days treatment with intravenous cefuroxime in laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Aims: to determine the effectiveness of cefuroxime prophylaxis in controlling the postoperative wound infection in laparoscopic cholecystectomy and to compare single day and multiple (two) days antibiotic prophylaxes by means of hospital stay and cost effectiveness. methods: 220 patients of laparoscopic cholecystectomy were studied. patients were divided into two groups a and b comprising of 103 and 117 patients respectively. group a was treated with three iv doses of cefuroxime 750mg tid. starting from 30 min before surgery and then oral therapy of 250 mg cefuroxime bid for 5 days was given. group b received total six iv doses of cefuroxime 750mg t.i.d and then shifted to oral therapy for four days. resultant observations were analyzed by chi square test. results: in group a,5(4.85%) and in group b 19(7.69%) patients developed surgical site infections. mean hospital stay of group a and group b was 2.14 and 2.21 days respectively. overall cost effectiveness of group a is almost two times less than group b. conclusions: from our study,it is concluded that the risk of postoperative wound infection in laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be effectively managed by one day t.i.d treatment of cefuroxime which has the benefit of patient compliance and less hospital stay of patient as well as is cost effective and ultimately increases the availability of health care provider and hospital bed for patients.