Thousands of patients undergo surgery each year. Prevention of infection from the surgery is of great importance.  It is estimated that infections of the surgical site (incision) are responsible for 14 to 16 percent of all reported hospital infections.  If a patient gets a surgical site infection, they are 60 percent more likely to spend time in an intensive care unit, five times more likely to be readmitted and twice as likely to die.  Reducing a patient’s chance of a surgical site infection is an important goal of the surgical team.

Not all types of surgery require an antibiotic before the surgical cut (incision), but certain types of surgeries may have a higher risk for the development of an infection after surgery. The chance for a surgical site infection in these types of surgery can be reduced by giving an antibiotic in a certain time frame before the surgical cut.  Ideally for most of the antibiotics, the best time to give the antibiotic is 0-60 minutes prior to the surgical cut. 

Antibiotic Timing Before Surgical Incision

• It has been shown that by giving an antibiotic within 0-60 minutes prior to the surgical cut (incision), 133 infections can be prevented.
• This chart represents the percentage of patients who received an antibiotic within 0-60 minutes before the surgical incision for seven types of surgeries

Overall CABG (Open Heart Bypass Surgery) Cardiac Hip Replacement Knee Replacement Colon Hysterectomy Vascular

References:
Delgado-Rodrigquez M, Sillero-Arenas M, Medina-Cuadros M, Martinez-Gallego G. Noscomial infections in surgical patients: comparison of two measures of intrinisic patient risk. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1997;18:19-23.
Kirkland KB, Briggs JP, Trivettt SL, Wilkinson WE, Sexton DJ. The impact of surgical site infections in the 1990s: attributable mortality, excess length of hospitalization and extra costs. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol
1999;20: 725-730.

© 2008 St. John's Mercy Health Care
615 S. New Ballas Rd., St. Louis, Missouri, 63141