Single-dose parenteral antibiotics as prophylaxis against wound infections in colonic operations

A study of 77 patients undergoing elective operations on the colon and rectum, where wounds were subject to contamination by fecal flora, did not demonstrate that the addition of a preoperative oral regime to parenteral antibiotics alone further decreased the incidence of wound infection. The authors feel that the use of single-dose clindamycin and cephazolin intravenously preoperatively has been shown to be a very effective method of preventing wound infection in elective colonic resections.