There were no statistically significant differences in mortality , infections overall and adverse events .
Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis of ≥24 hours may be more efficacious in preventing sternal SSIs in patients undergoing cardiac surgery compared to shorter regimens .
OBJECTIVE We aim ed to compare the efficacy of short-term ( < 24 hours ) versus longer-term antibiotic prophylaxis ( ≥24 hours ) in open heart surgery .
BACKGROUND The optimal duration of antibiotic prophylaxis for adults undergoing cardiac surgery is unknown and guideline recommendations are inconsistent .
Ceftriaxone versus Other Antibiotics for Surgical Prophylaxis
Objective To investigate possible differences in prophylaxis with ceftriaxone compared with other antimicrobial agents for  surgical-site infections and remote infections such as respiratory tract infections ( RTIs ) and urinary tract infections ( UTIs ) . Methods The efficacy of ceftriaxone was compared with that of other antibiotics in the perioperative prophylaxis of local ( surgical wound ) and remote ( RTIs and UTIs ) infections  in a meta- analysis of r and omised controlled trials published between 1984 and 2003 . The analysis was based on a 2 × 2 contingency table with classification by treatment and number of infections obtained from individual studies . Results Evaluations were performed on 48 studies , for a total of 17 565 patients . Overall , 406 patients ( 4.8 % ) in the ceftriaxone group and 525 ( 6.3 % ) in the comparator group developed a surgical-site infection ( log odds ratio [ OR ] −0.30 [ CI −0.50 to −0.13 ] ; p < 0.0001 ) . RTIs were observed in 292 ( 6.01 % ) patients in the ceftriaxone group and in 369 ( 7.6 % ) patients in the comparator group , ( log OR −0.30 [ CI −0.55 to −0.09 ] ; p = 0.0013 ) . UTIs were reported for 2.2 % of the ceftriaxone prophylaxis patients compared with 3.74 % of the comparator group patients ( log OR −0.54 [ CI −1.18 to −0.16 ] ; p < 0.0001 ) . Overall , in clean surgery 195 ( 5.1 % ) and 234 ( 6.2 % ) patients developed a surgical site infection in the ceftriaxone and comparator groups , respectively ( log OR −0.22 [ CI −0.51 to 0.01 ] ; p = 0.0476 ) . RTIs were prevented for all but 1.57 % of patients in the ceftriaxone group and 2.62 % of patients in the comparator group ( p = 0.01 ) in clean surgery , and for 9.54 % of the ceftriaxone group versus 11.6 % of the comparator group ( p = 0.01 ) in clean-contaminated surgery . While results observed in clean surgery did not show statistically significant superiority of ceftriaxone in preventing UTI insurgence ( log OR −0.21 [ CI 0.0–0.65 ] ; p = 0.7702 ) , this was clearly shown in the clean-contaminated surgery . In fact , 4.47 % of patients in the ceftriaxone group versus 7.52 % of patients in the comparator group developed a UTI ( log OR −0.56 [ CI −1.25 to −0.16 ] ; p < 0.0001 ) . Adverse events were observed in a similar proportion in the ceftriaxone prophylaxis and the comparator groups ( 0.35 % and 0.23 % , respectively ) . Duration of prophylaxis did not influence outcome of infection . Conclusions The meta- analysis showed that ceftriaxone is statistically superior to other antibiotics in preventing both local and remote postoperative infections
There were no statistically significant differences in mortality , infections overall and adverse events .
Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis of ≥24 hours may be more efficacious in preventing sternal SSIs in patients undergoing cardiac surgery compared to shorter regimens .
OBJECTIVE We aim ed to compare the efficacy of short-term ( < 24 hours ) versus longer-term antibiotic prophylaxis ( ≥24 hours ) in open heart surgery .
BACKGROUND The optimal duration of antibiotic prophylaxis for adults undergoing cardiac surgery is unknown and guideline recommendations are inconsistent .