No abstract

A total of 249 patients, undergoing appendectomy for acute appendicitis, were prospectively randomized into two groups. Group I, comprising 132 patients, received sterile normal saline irrigation to the surgical wound at closure. Alternatively, Group II included 117 patients, who received intraoperative topical ampicillin irrigation of the wound. Both groups were comparable with regard to age, sex, duration of symptoms, and severity of appendicitis. All patients additionally received preoperative systemic gentamicin and Flagyl. Wound infection occurred in 5.3% of Group I compared to only 0.9% of Group II (P<0.05). The reduction in infection rate was significant (P<0.05) in histologically proven appendicitis. We conclude that the addition of intraoperative topical ampicillin to systemic gentamicin and Flagyl augments prophylaxis against wound infection in acute appendicitis. Ann Saudi Med 1994;14(3):233-236. A considerable morbidity following appendectomy is caused by wound infection, 1-5 the rate of which ranges from 9% to 30% in early appendicitis and may reach up to 70% in advanced appendicitis.3-6 Systemic antibiotics were shown to reduce the wound infection rate significantly. 3,4,7 In vitro studies demonstrated 100% kill rates with clinically usable concentrations of antimicrobials in irrigating solutions after only 60-second exposure of the organisms. 8,9 Unlike parenterally administered antimicrobials, topical usage was found to attain prolonged effective local concentrations when used in the powder form. 10Experimental studies have shown that the combined use of systemic and topical antibiotics is better in advanced appendicitis than systemic antibiotics alone.11 Similarly, Seco et al. 12 have concluded in a clinical study that prophylaxis with a combination of systemic clindamycin and topical ampicillin solution, when compared with systemic clindamycin alone, was more effective in preventing wound infection after appendectomy, especially in patients with high wound contamination. However, the study of Seco et al. was criticized because the control group wounds were not irrigated with normal saline and clindamycin may not be the systemic antibiotic of choice for many surgeons. This communication aims at investigating the efficacy of the addition of topical ampicillin to systemic antimicrobials in reducing post appendectomy wound infection rate in a properly controlled randomized prospective study. Material and MethodsAll patients who underwent appendectomy through gridiron incision for clinically suspected acute appendicitis were considered for the study. Exclusion criteria were allergy to ampicillin and other systemic diseases requiring systemic antibiotic administration and therefore three patients who were allergic to ampicillin were excluded from the study, as well as another two patients who had valvular heart disease warranting preoperative prophylactic systemic ampicillin in addition to the systemic gentamicin and Flagyl. A total of 254 patients fulfilled the criteria of the study and were random...