Dose related effect of systemic antibiotics in prevention of postoperative intra-abdominal adhesion formation in experimental animals.

Sixty hamsters weighing 100-120 g were randomly assigned to 2 equal groups. GI was injected intramuscularly with saline, half an hour preoperatively as control, and GII was injected with 50 mg/kg Cefepime HCI & 7.5 mg/kg Metronidazole. After a midline lapparotomy, abdominal adhesions were induced in GI & GII. Post-operration, animals in GI was divided according to the numbers of intramuscular saline injections into 2 subgroups. GIa (15) in which animals were injected every 12 hours for 2 doses and GIb (15) where animals were injected every 12 hours for 5 days. Similarly, the antibiotic group was subdivided into GIIa (15) and GIIb (15). On the 14th day, the hamsters were sacrificed and the adhesion score was determined. The 5 day antibiotics course revealed significant reduction in incidence (P < 0.01), extent (P < 0.001) and severity (P < 0.01) of the postoperative peritoneal adhesions, while the short course failed.