Patients who received prophylactic ertapenem had significantly better 30-day outcomes on all measures of infection than did patients who had standard prophylaxis, Dr. Nutman said.
There were 34 surgical site infections in the routine prophylaxis group and 19 in the ertapenem group. Among these, 17 in the routine group and three in the ertapenem group were caused by ESBL-producing bacteria. The ESBL-positive infections were as follows:
- E. coli (thirteen in the routine and one in the ertapenem group).
- Klebsiella species (four and one, respectively).
- Proteus species (one in the ertapenem group).
Other infections were caused by ESBL-nonproducers, including E. coli, Klebsiella, Proteus, Enterococci, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and other unspecified organisms. Polymicrobial infections occurred in 25 patients.