Lower SSI Rate with Surgical Antimicrobial Prophylaxis in Low-Risk Cholecystectomies

Researchers found that surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis (SAP) halved the risk of surgical site infections (SSI) in low-risk cholecystectomy (LR-CCE) patients. In a cohort study of 12,521 patients from 66 Swiss hospitals, SAP was administered to 74% of patients and associated with a 50% reduction in SSI rates (adjusted odds ratio 0.50). The overall SSI rate was 1.1%, and the number needed to treat to prevent one SSI episode was 100. This suggests routine SAP benefits LR-CCE patients.