LAPAROSCOPIC APPENDECTOMY AS A ROUTINE PR OCEDURE

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.