Is antibiotic prophylaxis in knee arthroscopy mandatory?

Abstract EN

Objective: To determine the need of prophylactic antibiotics in knee arthroscopic procedures.

Methods: Three thousand patients, who presented to our sport medicine clinic in The Royal Rehabilitation Center at King Hussein Medical Center between January 2002 and February 2004, were assessed.

Patients who refused to be enrolled in the study, those who would need complex procedures as anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction or accompanied arthrotomy and those with predisposing factors to infection as diabetes mellitus, immune deficiency disorders and steroid therapy were excluded from the study.

Patients were divided into two groups; patients in group A were given one gram 1st generation cephalosporins at the induction of anesthesia and patients in group B were kept without antibiotic prophylaxis.

All surgeries were conducted under general anesthesia with tourniquet.

The patients were followed at 1, 3, 7 days and 3, 6 months for signs of infection.

Statistical analysis was performed using the student t- test.

Results: One hundred eighty patients were included in the study and divided into two groups with equal numbers.

There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of age, pathology detected in knees, surgical procedures performed and operative time.

No infection was detected in both groups during follow up.

No complications of antibiotic use were encountered.

Conclusion: Our results are preliminary to an ongoing study but we can conclude that using antibiotic prophylaxis, as a routine, in operative knee arthroscopy is not mandatory.

Antibiotic usage may increase cost and may lead to antibiotic complications.

Antibiotic prophylaxis may have a role in complex knee arthroscopic procedures as anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.