Postoperative infections and antibiotic prophylaxis in radical hysterectomy. Review of the literature]

Postoperative infectious complications are a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality in the surgical patient. The septic events usually involve the urinary or respiratory tracts or occur at the operative site. The incidence depends on the surgeon's experience, the surgical procedure applied and the clinical status of the patient. Radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy is associated with a high risk of postoperative infections. Factors that influence the risk are prolonged preoperative hospitalization, duration of operation, younger age, obesity, estimated blood loss and lack of antibiotic prophylaxis. Appropriate administration of prophylactic antibiotics requires awareness of the following considerations: the choice of antibiotic agent, the dosage and the timing of administration for maximum benefit without adverse effects. In this review we evaluate the results of studies that use different regimens of antibiotic prophylaxis for prevention of infectious morbidity after radical hysterectomy.