[Cefotetan in preoperative prophylaxis in gynecologic surgery]

The Authors report on the effectiveness of a 2nd generation "cephalosporin" (Cefotetan) used in preventive antibiotic treatment connected with gynaecological surgery. Two hundred hospital patients were involved in the experiment and were divided into 4 groups: 1) the first and second groups were given a "short-term" preventive antibiotic treatment (a single dose before the operation); 2) the third and fourth groups were given antibiotics continuously in the post-operative period. In those patients in groups I and III (who had operations for abdominal laparotomies) the incidence of fewerishness was 12% in those patients treated with the "short-term" therapy, and 10% in those receiving post-operative treatment. Sepsis on the suture developed in none of these cases. Urinary infection occurred in 6% of these patients in group I as compared with 2% in group III. During post-operative treatment of patients in group II and IV (who had had minor gynaecological operation) the incidence of inflammation with slight temperature was very much lower only 4% of the cases treated with "short-term" preventive antibiotics and only 2% in those patients receiving continuous preventive treatment. In no case was these sepsis of the suture. Urinary infection occurred in 4% of patients on "short-term" therapy (group II) but in none of the patients in group IV. Side effects were in all cases only slight and of brief duration, especially in group I and II who received the single pre-operative dose of the antibiotic.