Abstract

Introduction: Even with all the progress made in minimally invasive surgery, surgical site infection (SSI) still ranks among the more troublesome complications following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Antibiotic prophylaxis is standard practice, but how long it should be continued is still up for debate. Giving more antibiotics than necessary only adds to healthcare costs, raises the chance of adverse drug reactions, and feeds into the wider problem of antimicrobial resistance which is why it’s worth asking whether a single preoperative dose can hold its own against the conventional multidose approach. Objectives: To compare rates of surgical site infection and other postoperative outcomes between patients given a single preoperative antibiotic dose and those given the conventional multidose regimen during elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Methods: This randomized controlled comparative study was carried out in the Department of General Surgery, Sardar Patel Medical College and Associated Group of Hospitals, Bikaner, Rajasthan. One hundred patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were enrolled and split evenly into two groups of 50. Group A was given a single preoperative intravenous dose of cefotaxime and sulbactam (1.5 g), while Group B received the conventional multidose prophylaxis regimen. Patients were tracked for four weeks after surgery to catch any surgical site infection or other complications. Data were analysed in SPSS, with p<0.05 taken as significant. Results: Baseline age and clinical characteristics were similar across both groups. Surgical site infection turned up in 12% of the single-dose group compared with

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