Background
Surgical wound infections are a significant problem and may interfere with healing. There is no uniform data in the literature regarding the rate of infection among the resection of skin tumors and the benefit of antibiotic prophylaxis. This study evaluated the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis with cefazolin in resections of nonmelanocytic skin tumors and whether the histological type and ulceration is related to the rate of wound infection.
Methods
Two hundred and twenty-seven patients undergoing non-melanocytic skin tumor resection were randomly divided into two groups: group I without antibiotic prophylaxis of surgical site infection, and group II with intravenous cefazolin prophylaxis. Authors looked for surgical wound infection during a month of follow-up. Comparison intra and extra groups were made considering the tumor histology, and if it was ulcerated or not to surgical site infection.
Results
The infection rate in the sample was 25 lesions (12.01 %). Antibiotic prophylaxis proved to be effective in ulcerative lesions, and the infection rate was reduced from 12 cases (30 %) to 3 cases (9.85 %) (pFisher = 0.04; RRR = 0.61; NNT = 4.80) but was not associated with reduced infection rates in any histological type.
Conclusions
Antibiotic prophylaxis was effective in preventing wound infection in ulcerated non-melanocytic skin tumor.
Level of Evidence: Level I, therapeutic study.