The Role of Antibiotics in Surgery

Discovery of antibiotics has been one of the third great advances in the field of surgery in the past 150 years. On the other hand antibiotics are one of the most prescribed drug in surgical practice. Therefore, surgeons should keep themselves up to date in this field. Because of so much use of antibiotics, the infection has become much more complicated and severe due to bacterial resistance. The disappearance of non-resistant bacteria have been replaced with the most virulent form which are able to induce organ failure and shock and sometimes an irreversible situation. Surgery in geriatric patients which most often have comorbid conditions makes them more liable to infection. The application of implants, metallic devices, meshes and immunosuppressive drug which are routinely used in organ transplant, have made the patients more susceptible to bacterial infection. So it is clear that for use of the antibiotics in any patient it should be approached individually. Nevertheless infection is the second cause of death after cardiac events in surgery.