Studies on the duration of antibiotic administration for surgical prophylaxis.

Patients undergoing 801 elective, clean-contaminated operations were assigned to one of the three following antibiotic regimens: 1) 1 g of cefazolin preoperatively, 2) 1 g of cefazolin preoperatively and another 1-g dose 3 hours later, and 3) 1 g of cefotetan preoperatively. These antibiotic regimens resulted in similar wound infection rates for procedures completed within 3 hours. When the proced…