Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis in skin surgery - Position paper of the Antibiotic Stewardship working group of the German Society for Dermatologic Surgery (DGDC), Part 1: Procedure- and patient-related risk factors.

Abstract

The aim of perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis (PAP) is to prevent the occurrence of surgical site infections (SSIs) or other infectious complications (especially bacterial endocarditis or septic arthritis). PAP is effective in surgeries where overall infection rates are high even without considering patient-related risk factors (such as orthopedic surgery or fracture repair). Surgery on airways, gastrointestinal, genital, or urinary tract is also considered to be associated with a risk of infection and may require PAP. Overall, SSIs in skin surgery are relatively rare and vary between 1% and 11% depending on the localization, complexity of the wound closure and patient cohort. Therefore, the general surgical recommendations regarding PAP only partially reflect the needs of dermatologic surgery. In contrast to the USA, where recommendations on the use of PAP in skin surgery already exist, there are currently no guidelines for the use of PAP specifically designed for dermatologic surgery in Germany. In the absence of an evidence-based recommendation, the use of PAP is guided by the experience of the surgeons and leads to a heterogeneous use of antimicrobial substances. In this work, we summarize the current scientific literature on the use of PAP and make a recommendation depending on procedure- and patient-related risk factors.

• Authors: Christoph R Löser, Sören L Becker, Daniela Hartmann, Lukas Kofler, Christian Kunte, Cornelia S L Müller, Justin Gabriel Schlager, Galina Balakirski
• Journal: Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft = Journal of the German Society of Dermatology : JDDG (J Dtsch Dermatol Ges) Vol. 21 Issue 9 Pg. 949-956 (09 2023) ISSN: 1610-0387 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 36892413 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Deutsche Dermatologische Gesellschaft.

Chemical References

• Anti-Bacterial Agents

Topics

• Humans
• Antibiotic Prophylaxis
• Antimicrobial Stewardship
• Surgical Wound Infection (prevention & control, drug therapy)
• Anti-Bacterial Agents (therapeutic use)
• Risk Factors
• Dermatologic Surgical Procedures (adverse effects)