Rethinking Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Surgery / Nehad Jaser Ahmed
Rethinking Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Surgery Nehad Jaser Ahmed Surgical site infections (SSIs) remain a major healthcare concern, increasing hospital stays, costs, and patient complications. Although antibiotic prophylaxis is essential for preventing SSIs, the choice of antibiotic is critical. In recent years, broader-spectrum cephalosporins such as ceftriaxone have been increasingly used, often without strong evidence that they provide superior protection compared to narrower options like cefazolin. Across multiple large-scale analyses, the findings were consistent: Cefazolin is as effective as broader-spectrum cephalosporins (e.g., cefuroxime, ceftriaxone) in preventing SSIs across clean, clean-contaminated, and contaminated surgeries. Broader-spectrum antibiotics do not reduce infection rates compared to cefazolin. Overuse of broad-spectrum agents remains common in real-world surgical practice. Such overuse increases antimicrobi...