Individualized surgical antibiotic prophylaxis – why, when, and how?

Surgical site infections (SSI) greatly concern clinicians, as they are associated with significant morbidity and mortality, prolonged hospitalization, and costs. Antibiotic prophylaxis plays a pivotal role among the procedures that are usually employed for the prevention of surgical-related infections. This narrative review aims to cover some of the particular situations when the clinician might consider individualizing antibiotic prophylaxis for a patient. With the rising incidence of multi-drug resistant bacteria carriage among not only hospitalized or institutionalized patients but also patients from the community, there might be a tendency to use extended-spectrum antibiotics for longer periods for surgical infection prevention. However, the inappropriate use of antibiotics increases the selection pressure, thus favoring the spreading of resistant bacteria. Moreover, specific patient characteristics or pathologies might need to be considered to customize the type, dose, or length of administration of an antibiotic as surgical prophylaxis. Using prosthetic material or prolonged surgeries with large fluid shifts are other situations when individualized antibiotic prophylaxis might be thought of. Keeping in mind that it is of utmost importance that everyone adheres to the current guidelines for surgical antibiotic prophylaxis, customization of local protocols according to well-thought-out strategies might prove beneficial in SSI prevention.