Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Revision, Clean Head and Neck Surgery

Surgical wound infection (SWI) is a common complication in many operations, including head and neck (H&N) surgery, with reported rates ranging between 3.5 to 87%. While prophylactic antibiotic use has been shown to decrease SWI in clean-contaminated and contaminated surgery, its use in clean surgery is debatable. In most types of clean surgery the value of prophylactic antibiotics is minimal, however in some cases it might be justified, including in radical neck dissections, in a previously irradiated neck, those with a tracheostomy and immunosuppressed patients - although there is no consensus regarding these risk factors.

Previous research has shown that adherence to guidelines regarding prophylactic antibiotic use is lacking, with one study showing a greater than 40% rate of inappropriate antibiotic administration. This may be partially attributed to some patients having other risk factors, not covered by existing guidelines.

One such risk factor is previous H&N surgery. While there are no studies addressing this issue in H&N surgeries, a study in clean neurosurgical operations has shown an almost trice-fold increase in SWI rates in some operations (4% vs. 13%).

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of prophylactic antibiotic use in repeat clean H&N surgery.

This is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. The study will be conducted at the Otolaryngology department in Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva.