[Perioperative use of antibiotics for preventive indications]

The prevention of infections in surgical patients undergoing an operation is a major challenge. One of the several possibilities is the administration of appropriate antibiotics during the perioperative period. For this type of prophylactic use the agent selected should be given before contamination--a single dose is very often sufficient. Common indications for antibiotic prophylaxis are: operations involving a high chance of contamination and those that have hither to be clean but in which the implications of infections would be highly threatening.