COMPARISON BETWEEN PLAIN AND GENTAMICIN CONTAINING COLLAGEN SPONGES IN INFECTED PERITONEAL-CAVITY IN RATS

Objective: To study the usefulness of gentamicin-containing sponges in the infected peritoneal cavity in rats. Design: Controlled study. Mat erial: 83 Male Wistar rats, 36 of which were treated by plain sponge, 36 by gentamicin-impregnated sponge, and II acted as controls. Interve ntions: A standard model of intraperitoneal infection was developed by making a 1 cm long incision in the caecum. Main outcome measures: Pos toperative mortality, macroscopic and microscopic features of infectio n, and bacterial concentrations in the abdomen on days 3, 6, and 9. Re sults: In the respective groups 2, 3 and 2 animals died during operati on and 4/34 (11%), 3/33 (9%); and 0/9 died before day 3. There were ap preciable reductions in the number of animals with features of infecti on after 3 days but these were not significant at 6 or 9 days. Conclus ion: Gentamicin-containing collagen sponges placed on a septic focus i n the abdomen reduce local infection for at least 3 days.