At the Gynaecology Department of the Bethesda Hospital, 100 undergoing
a patients laparoscopic appendectomy were recruited for a prospective
study. The first ten patients received no antibiotic, the second ten
were given a three-day course of cephazolin, the third ten were treate
d with a combination of sulbactam and ampicillin and the remaining 70
received cefuroxime. There were no significant differences between the
four groups in the mean operating time, the intraoperative complicati
on rate or in the degree of inflammation as classified by the histolog
ical examination. The reduced rate of postoperative complications defi
ned as pyrexia > 38 degrees C, elevated WBC and peritoneal irritation
for more than two days, showed the advantage of antibiotic prophylaxis
with cefuroxime with respect to single parameters and overall complic
ation rates. There were no intraoperative or severe postoperative comp
lications.