Prevention of surgical site infection after breast cancer surgery by targeted prophylaxis antibiotic in patients at high risk of surgical site infection.

OBJECTIVE: We previously showed that previous chemotherapy and immediate breast reconstruction were associated with an increased risk of surgical site infection (SSI) in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery. The present before-after study evaluated a preventive strategy for high-risk patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We compared the incidence of SSI in two prospective observational cohorts of patients underwent clean procedure in curative intent for a-biopsy proven breast cancer: a historical cohort followed before implementation of a preventive strategy and a second cohort followed thereafter. The strategy consisted of identifying patients at risk of SSI and prophylaxis administration of cefuroxime to those patients. The impact of our strategy was analyzed using a logistic regression model adjusted for potential confounders.

RESULTS: SSI incidence was estimated at 19/542 (3.5%) before preventive strategy versus 2/247 (0.8%) thereafter (crude odds ratio (OR) 0.22 confidence interval [95% CI 0.05-0.97], P = 0.03). After adjustment for confounders (breast reconstruction, previous breast surgery, and duration of surgery), our preventive strategy reduced the risk of SSI by 81% (adjusted OR 0.19 [95% CI 0.04-0.85], P = 0.03).

CONCLUSION: These results showed that antibiotic prophylaxis is beneficial for patients at high-risk of WI after breast cancer surgery. Randomized controlled trials should now confirm these findings.