A STUDY OF SINGLE DOSE PRE-OPERATIVE ANTIBIOTIC PROPHYLAXIS VERSUS CONVENTIONAL MULTIPLE DOSE POST OPERATIVE ANTIBIOTIC THERAPY IN INGUINAL HERNIA REPAIR SURGERY

Background: Elective inguinal hernioplasty is considered to be a clean procedure which does not require antibiotic prophylaxis but prosthetic material like polypropylene mesh is routinely used during procedure. This makes the topic debatable because the use of prosthetic material like mesh increases the risk of surgical site infection. The incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) after inguinal hernioplasty ranges from 0% to 14 % in international literature. It is also more controversial whether single dose antibiotic or conventional multiple doses of antibiotics for 5 to 7 days is effective. Hence our study aims to compare the efficacy of single dose versus multiple dose antibiotic prophylaxis in open inguinal hernioplasty

Patients And Methods: A total of 120 cases of inguinal hernia admitted in Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences in the Department of general surgery underwent Lichtenstein tension free mesh hernioplasty and received either pre-op single dose or post-op multiple dose antibiotic therapy. The two groups were then compared for SSI.

Conclusion: Our study shows that a single dose of antibiotics given half an hour prior to open surgery in elective uncomplicated inguinal hernia repair surgery is as effective as multiple doses of antibiotics post-operatively in preventing post-operative surgical site infection.