A double-blind study comparing cefonicid with cefazolin as prophylaxis in patients undergoing total hip or knee...

In a randomized double-blind design, cefonicid, an investigational cephalosporin, was compared with cefazolin as prophylaxis in 76 patients undergoing total hip or knee replacement. Risk factors were similar in both groups, and no toxicity was seen with either the control drug, cefazolin, or the test drug, cefonicid. In this small group of patients followed for a short period (four months to one year), no wound sepsis or early or delayed prosthetic sepsis was found, and no superiority of one drug over the other could be demonstrated. Because of the already low incidence of prosthetic infection in patients given appropriate prophylaxis, a larger sample size and a more extended follow-up would be necessary to show increased efficacy of a new compound relative to that of an accepted and proven older drug.