Since the introduction of the clinical path in 1998, our department has conducted various reviews in accordance with CDCs measures for preventing postoperative infections while verifying clinical results as to the duration, administration method, and types of antimicrobial drugs. In this study we investigated changes in the incidence of SSI (CDC) after a shift from postoperative 2-day administration (day of surgery to2nd postoperative day) to postoperative 1-day administration (day of surgery to 1nd postoperative day). Occurrence of SSI was found in one case (0.4%) in the postoperative 1-day administration group (281 cases) against three cases (0.929%) in the postoperative 2-day administration group.
The results of the present investigation suggest that postoperative administration of antimicrobial drugs is safe even when the duration of administration is shortened from two to one day after surgery.
