Postoperative Wound Infection in Major Head and Neck Oncological Surgery: Does Antibiotic Prophylaxis Have an Influence?

A total of 14 of the 90 patients (16%) developed a postoperative wound infection after major oncological head and neck surgery during the study period. Of these patients, all developed pharyngocutaneous fistulas (PCF). All the patients received initially empiric antibiotics which were modified following results of culture and sensitivity of the samples. The time to infection post-operatively ranged from 2 days to 21 days. The most common organism isolated from clinical specimens was methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.