Duration of Postoperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Facial Fractures

Summary

Facial fractures make up a significant proportion of injuries in trauma patients. Treatment of these fractures often results in standard surgical interventions. While up to the early 1980's perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis in maxillofacial surgery was controversial, its efficacy is well accepted today. Chole and his team could show that the administration of antibiotics one hour preoperatively and eight hours after the intervention reduces the incidence of infectious complications in facial fractures from 42,2% to 8.9%. However there is still no consensus about the duration of the postoperative administration. In literature postoperative prophylaxis in facial fractures varies from single-shot 6-7 up to a duration of 7 and even ten days postoperatively 8-10. The use of antibiotics can be associated with allergic or toxic reactions, adverse effects, drug interactions and increasing bacterial resistance. In addition some authors assume that a prolonged administration of antibiotics might increase the risk of infectious complications via superinfection. On the other hand a short term or single shot administration might not be enough to prevent the onset of an postoperative infection. Up to date there is no standard to support the administration of antibiotics after surgical repair of a facial fracture. The purpose of this prospective, randomized double-blinded trial is to investigate the utility of antibiotics administered in the postoperative period after surgical revision of facial fractures. Hypothesis: a short-term antibiotic prophylaxis of 1 day postoperatively is equally effective as a long-term administration of 5 days in facial fractures.

Timeline

Start

2006-01

Primary completion

2012-11

Completion

2012-12

Publications

• Background Peterson LJ, Booth DF. Efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in intraoral orthognathic surgery. J Oral Surg. 1976 Dec;34(12):1088-91.
• Background Martis C, Karabouta I. Infection after orthognathic surgery, with and without preventive antibiotics. Int J Oral Surg. 1984 Dec;13(6):490-4. doi: 10.1016/s0300-9785(84)80019-8.
• Background Yrastorza JA. Indications for antibiotics in orthognathic surgery. J Oral Surg. 1976 Jun;34(6):514-6.
• Background Chole RA, Yee J. Antibiotic prophylaxis for facial fractures. A prospective, randomized clinical trial. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1987 Oct;113(10):1055-7. doi: 10.1001/archotol.1987.01860100033016.
• Background Hotz G, Novotny-Lenhard J, Kinzig M, Soergel F. Single-dose antibiotic prophylaxis in maxillofacial surgery. Chemotherapy. 1994 Jan-Feb;40(1):65-9. doi: 10.1159/000239173.
• Background Merten HA, Halling F. [Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis in maxillofacial surgery]. Infection. 1993;21 Suppl 1:S45-8. doi: 10.1007/BF01710343. German.
• Background Abubaker AO, Rollert MK. Postoperative antibiotic prophylaxis in mandibular fractures: A preliminary randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled clinical study. J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2001 Dec;59(12):1415-9. doi: 10.1053/joms.2001.28272.
• Background Folkestad L, Granstrom G. A prospective study of orbital fracture sequelae after change of surgical routines. J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2003 Sep;61(9):1038-44. doi: 10.1016/s0278-2391(03)00316-1.
• Background Gerlach KL, Pape HD. [Studies on preventive antibiotics in the surgical treatment of mandibular fractures]. Dtsch Z Mund Kiefer Gesichtschir. 1988 Nov-Dec;12(6):497-500. No abstract available. German.
• Background National Kidney Foundation. K/DOQI clinical practice guidelines for chronic kidney disease: evaluation, classification, and stratification. Am J Kidney Dis. 2002 Feb;39(2 Suppl 1):S1-266. No abstract available.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.