Surgical Prophylaxis

Surgical General Information

Many medical conditions require treatment through Surgical operations. In many cases, the procedure is performed with no complications, and the patient’s health is restored – or at least the symptoms requiring the operation are treated. However, in some cases complications may occur. The possible complications may range from nerve and tissue damage to blood loss related situations and viral or bacterial infections at the site of operation. In order to prevent such complications, modern surgery takes place in sterile environments and the health care professionals attending the operation take all necessary precautions. Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure a 100% safety level in all circumstances.

Surgical procedures may need to be performed in unsanitary conditions. In some cases, human error may be responsible for the appearance of complications. Some operations require expert manipulation of the utensils and apparatuses in tight spaces, where a tenth of a millimeter may represent the difference between success and failure. As such, the slightest error may lead to the appearance of such complications, and in some cases may even cause the death of the patient. Fortunately, modern technology and proper training of the health care professionals prevent such situations, and in the vast majority of cases surgery is successful and no problems occur during or after the operation.

Surgical Prophylaxis

Surgical Prophylaxis through antibiotics is a general safety procedure in which antibiotic drugs are administered in order to prevent infections at the site of the operation. Preventive measures are currently employed in all operating environments, and are standard for contaminated, clean-contaminated surgery and for artificial device implants. Typically, the antibiotics that are used cover only a small range of pathogens, which are most likely to be found at the site of the operation. The prophylactic doses are administered at a specific time before or during the operation – for example, most parenteral prophylactic antibiotics are administered together with the anesthesia. Typically a single dose is sufficient for operations that last less than four hours, however operations that require prolonged periods of time may involve administration of multiple doses. Extra attention should be paid to the selection of the appropriate antibiotics, as choosing the prophylactic agents improperly not only increases the cost of the operation, but also allows potential infections to occur, and also creates a favorable environment for the pathogen agents to develop drug resistances.

In many cases, such as in operation of clean wounds in sterile environments, Surgical Prophylaxis may not be required. As opposed to such situations, in cases where the operation needs to be performed in less favorable conditions (e.g. field surgery or operating field contaminated with macroscopic elements), Surgical Prophylaxis may be strongly recommended. Before the operation, the examining health care professional must decide whether prophylactic measures are appropriate, and must take steps in identifying the bacterial flora which is most likely to infect the wound and lead to postoperative complications. Afterwards, the antibiotic medication to be used should be chosen by taking into account the narrowest spectrum of antibacterial action required and if multiple medications are available, only one of these should be selected following the criteria of effectiveness, toxicity, ease of administration and of course, cost. Medication that is likely to be used in treating possible cases of serious sepsis should not be employed.

The prophylactic dose of antibiotic medication needs to be administered at the right time. In most cases administration of antibiotics for extended periods of time is not necessary; as such, the medicine should be administered only for the shortest possible time period. Prophylactic treatment cannot be used to compensate for poor surgery techniques. The Surgical Prophylaxis protocols should be reviewed regularly, as both the cost of the antibiotics as well as the bacterial drug resistance patterns may change, thus rendering past preventive procedures ineffective, and leaving the patient susceptible to developing postoperative infections.

Surgical Treatment

There are several types of Surgical operations which are currently employed in the treatment of various medical affections. Excisions are operations through which tumors, tissues or even organs are extracted from the patient’s body. Resections refer to the partial removal of organs. Reconnection is a procedure employed to reconnect or suture severed organs or tissues. Ligation is an operation through which blood vessels or other types of ducts and “tubes” are tied off. In some cases, the surgery may consist of cutting pieces of tissue from the patient’s body (or from a different suitable volunteer) and re-sewing it in another area – this is known under the name of grafting. Transplant surgery is somewhat similar to this procedure, as it consists of implanting tissue or whole organs from a donor into the patient’s body, and reconstructing all the necessary connections between the tissue / organ and the organism.

Prosthetic, artificial parts and devices are also inserted through Surgical operations. Stoma creation is a procedure through which an opening is created in the patient’s body, either permanently or for a limited period of time. Arthrodesis is an operation through which adjacent bones are connected in order to grow into a single bone. Other procedures are employed in modern surgery as well. Some are more common, like repairing hernia, fistulae or prolapse, while others are uncommon (for example separation of conjoined twins or sex change operations). For more information regarding a specific operation, it is advised to ask a specialized health care professional.