[Antibiotic prophylaxis of infectious complications of cervico-facial surgery]

Head and neck surgery presents a high operating risk of infectious complications. We agree upon the fact that 60% of the so-called infected operations would be complicated by secondary infections if they are not treated by antibiotic therapy. Such a premise justifies the more and more used application of a chemoprophylaxis in surgery, carried out preoperatively. The AA. report 81 cases of patients, from 15 o 70 years old (62 males, 19 females), subjected to head and neck surgery and subdivided into two groups according to the kind of the operation. I group: 40 patients subjected to operations of minor infectious risk, the whole number subjected only to the prophylactic pre-operational treatment with 1 gr. of Ceftriaxone by intravenous injection, 30-60 min. before the operation. II group: 41 patients subjected to infected operations: 21 patients treated with 1 gr. of Ceftriaxone by intravenous injection, 30-60 min. before the operation, and 20 patients treated with Cefazolin, 1 gr. per daily administration, carried out after the surgical operation. As dealing with infected operations of high risk infectious complications, the antibiotic treatment has been carried out for 7-8 days for all the patients. In operations with minor infectious risk (group I) we have had a good post-operational course, without any infectious complication; the use of Ceftriaxone, with only one preoperational dose, is extremely useful for this group of patients. In infected operations of head and neck oncological surgery (group II) the cases of infectious complications have been 2 in the subgroup treated with Ceftriaxone, and 4 in the subgroup treated with Cefazolin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)