[Prevention of infection in closure surgery in colostomies. Double-blind study with tinidazole]

A comparative double-blind study of tinidazole vs placebo was conducted in order to assess the prophylaxis of post-surgical abdominal infections in 40 patients undergoing closure colostomy surgery. During three days the patients were kept on a low residue diet, and underwent a colon mechanical cleansing. About 10 to 12 hours prior to surgery the patients were given placebo or tinidazole in tablets of identical appearance; the dose of tinidazole was of 2 g (4 tablets) in a single oral dose. Evaluation performed after surgery showed that in the tinidazole group occurred two surgical mild infections (10%), while in placebo group occurred nine infections (45%)--four of them severe and one very severe, showing a significative difference between the two groups (p less than 0.05). In placebo group 21 bacteria were isolated, 3 of them were anaerobic; only two aerobic species were identified in the tinidazole group (p less than 0.001). No adverse reactions were reported in both groups. The authors concluded that in this study, tinidazole showed a prophylactic effect on post-surgical abdominal infections in patients who underwent closure colostomy surgery.