Comparison between outcome of single dose of prophylactic antibiotic versus postoperative antibiotic in inguinal hernia surgery

Objectives: To compare the outcome prophylactic antibiotics and routine pre-surgical and post-surgical in terms of incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) and to explore the effect of various factors such as duration of surgery and patient characteristics (if any).

Methods: A double-blinded prospective analysis of a total of 60 patients with the primary inguinal hernia was conducted from 24th August 2020 to 24th August 2021 at the Surgical Department of Nishtar Medical University & Hospital, Multan. The participants of the study were categorized into two groups such that 30 consecutive patients were placed in the study group who were administered with a single dose of prophylactic antibiotic 30 minutes before to mesh repair surgery and the remaining 30 patients were placed in the control group who were administered routine antibiotics pre and post-operatively. The effects in patients were observed till 30 days following surgery for any sign of infection. All the collected data were analyzed through SPSS (version 19).

Results: The rate of infection in both groups was noted. The incidence of infection in the study group (13.3%) was higher as compared to the control group (10%). No patient underwent mesh removal and no significant difference in terms of post-operative complications was observed in the results of both groups.

Conclusion: Both the treatments, prophylactic antibiotics and routine pre-surgical and post-surgical were equally effective. However, we recommend the administration of prophylactic since they are cost-effective and prevent bacterial drug resistance.