- Haidar, Yarah M;
- Tripathi, Prem B;
- Tjoa, Tjoson;
- Walia, Sartaaj;
- Zhang, Lishi;
- Chen, Yanjun;
- Nguyen, Danh V;
- Mahboubi, Hossein;
- Armstrong, William B;
- Goddard, Julie A
Background
Optimal antibiotic prophylaxis duration in head and neck clean-contaminated free-flap cases is unknown.Methods
A systematic review/meta-analysis was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Web-of-Science, and Scopus databases.Results
Of the 3755 searched articles, 5 articles were included for a total of 861 patients. The recipient surgical site infection risk was significantly higher in patients receiving prophylactic antibiotics for ≤24 hours compared to >24 hours (relative risk [RR] 1.56; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13-2.14). In the post hoc multivariate analysis based on available individual-level data on 697 patients from 3 studies, the risk of surgical site infection for ≤24 hours versus >24 hours was not significant after adjusting for antibiotic type (RR 1.09; 95% CI 0.78-1.55). When compared to ampicillin-sulbactam, patients who received clindamycin prophylaxis had an increased likelihood of recipient surgical site infection (RR 2.85; 95% CI 1.95-4.17).Conclusion
Less than or equal to 24 hours of antibiotic prophylaxis in head and neck clean-contaminated free-flap is likely sufficient but a strong conclusion remains elusive. Clindamycin prophylaxis increases the risk of recipient surgical site infection. Further prospective trials are necessary to clarify.