Prevention of postoperative wound infection after appendectomy by local application of tinidazole: A double‐blind study

Abstract

Abstract The effect of local application of tinidazole on wound infection rates has been studied in 510 patients undergoing acute appendectomy. Patients with perforation of the appendix were not included in the study. After suture of the peritoneum, the exposed tissues were washed with 200 ml of tinidazole solution 2 mg/ml or, in control cases, with the same amount of saline solution. The study was prospective, controlled, and double‐blind. The total number of postoperative wound infections was 3.5% (18 patients). Among 116 patients with gangrenous appendicitis, a significant reduction of postoperative wound infections was observed in the group given tinidazole prophylaxis (p=0.02). The infection rates observed were 2.0% in the treatment group and 13.8% in the control group. The costs for prophylactic tinidazole to avoid 1 infection was estimated at 568 Swedish kronor (SEK) ($73, U.S.) while every infection gives rise to an extra cost of 10,100 SEK ($1,295, U.S.). Local application of tinidazole in cases of gangrenous appendicitis thus proved to be highly cost‐effective .