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G Preclik a Medizinische
Universitätsklinik und Poliklinik, D-89070 Ulm, Germany, b Klinik und Poliklinik
für Innere Medizin I, Klinikum der Universität Regensburg, D-93042
Regensburg, Germany, c Kreiskrankenhaus Böblingen, D-71032 Böblingen,
Germany, d Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Innere
Medizin/Endoskopie, D-80366 München, Germany, e SmithKline Beecham
Pharma, D-80804 München, Germany
Correspondence to: Dr Kern
winfried.kern{at}medizin.uni-ulm.de
Objective:
To determine the efficacy of antibacterial prophylaxis in preventing infectious complications after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.
Design:
Prospective, randomised, placebo controlled, double blind, multicentre study.
Setting:
Departments of internal medicine at six
German hospitals.
Subjects:
Of 106 randomised adult patients with
dysphagia, 97 received study medication, and 84 completed the study.
The median age of the patients was 65 years. Most had dysphagia due to
malignant disease (65%), and many (76%) had serious comorbidity.
Interventions:
A single intravenous 2.2 g dose of
co-amoxiclav or identical appearing saline was given 30 min before
percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy performed by the thread pull method.
Main outcome measures:
Occurrence of peristomal wound
infections and other infections within one week after percutaneous
endoscopic gastrostomy.
Results:
The incidence of peristomal and other
infections within one week after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy
was significantly reduced in the antibiotic group (8/41 (20%)
v 28/43 (65%), P<0.001). Similar results were obtained in
an intention to treat analysis. Several peristomal wound infections
were of minor clinical significance. After wound infections that
required no or only local treatment were excluded from the analysis,
antibiotic prophylaxis remained highly effective in reducing clinically
important wound infections (1/41 (2%) v 11/43 (26%),
P<0.01) and non-wound infections (2 (5%) v 9 (21%),
P<0.05).
Conclusions:
Antibiotic prophylaxis with a single dose of co-amoxiclav significantly reduces the risk of infectious
complications after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy and should be recommended.
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