This portion of R-GNOSIS was intended to investigate the relationship between ESBL-B carriage and postoperative surgical site infections among colorectal surgery patients.
The study comprised 3,626 patients who were preoperatively screened for ESBL-B within 2 weeks of colorectal surgery. The ESBL-B carriage rate was 15.3% overall, but ranged from 12% to 20% by site. Of the carriers, 222 were included in this study sample. They were randomly matched with 444 noncarriers.
Anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 days before surgery, all of the patients received a standard prophylactic antibiotic. This was most often an infusion of 1.5 g cefuroxime plus 500 mg metronidazole. Other cephalosporins were allowed at the clinician’s discretion.
Patients were a mean of 62 years old. Nearly half (48%) had cardiovascular disease and about a third had undergone a prior colorectal surgical procedure. Cancer was the surgical indication in about 70%. Other indications were inflammatory bowel disease and diverticular disease.