Background: Inguinal hernia surgery is the commonest surgery performed worldwide. Lichtenstein tension free repair using polypropylene mesh is the gold standard procedure for inguinal hernioplasty. Wound infection is the most common complication encountered in inguinal hernia surgery. Antibiotic prophylaxis for open inguinal hernioplasty in minimizing wound infection has been a subject of debate since the beginning of mesh repair.Methods: This study is a randomized control trial (double blind study) designed to study the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in preventing SSI (surgical site infection) in patients undergoing Lichenstein’s hernioplasty at our tertiary care centre.Results: The overall SSI incidence was found to be 12% in the study population. Among the placebo group, SSI was observed in 7 patients (14%). In the patients in whom antibiotic prophylaxis was administered, SSI was observed in 5 patients (10%).Conclusions: Antibiotic prophylaxis was associated with decreased incidence of wound infection when compared to control group, but the difference was not statistically significant. This study only gives a baseline data about the status of SSI associated with hernia repair in our tertiary care centre highlighting the need for further research in this field.

Background: This study was aimed to evaluate the validity of Mannheim Peritonitis Index (MPI) in predicting the outcome in patients with perforation peritonitis. Methods: A prospective study was designed for a study period of 2 years, 75 patients who underwent operation for perforation peritonitis were included in the study. Post evaluation done with predesigned proforma, MPI score was calculated and analyzed for each patient who underwent surgery, death being the main outcome measure. The MPI scores were divided into three categories. MPI scores <15 (category 1), 16-25 (category 2), and >25 (category 3). Results: Present study consisted of 60 males and 15 females (male:female ratio of 4:1) with the mean patients age 37.96±17.49 years. 47, 26, and 27 cases belonged to MPI score categories 1, 2, and 3. The dominating source of perforation was small intestinal. The individual parameters of MPI score were assessed against the mortality, age >50 years (P = 0.015), organ failure (P = 0.0001), noncolonic origin of sepsis (P = 0.002), and generalized peritonitis (P = 0.0001) were the factors significantly associated with mortality. The sensitivity of MPI was 92% and specificity was 78% in receiver operating characteristic curves. Conclusions: MPI is an effective tool for prediction of mortality in cases of perforation peritonitis.