[Perioperative antibiotics in the management of hand infection].

Purpose: There is no consensus on the utility of postoperative antibiotherapy in hand infections after surgical management. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the absence of postoperative antibiotic therapy was detrimental after surgical treatment.

Methods: We included 287 patients operated on for a hand infection between January 2018 and October 2023. Preoperative or postoperative antibiotic prescription was collected for every patient. Patients cured for their infection with a single surgery were classified as "simple evolution", while patients requiring repetitive surgery or who had at least one complication directly linked to the initial infection (extension of infection or necrosis) were considered "complicated".

Results: From a total of 287 patients, we included 188 paronychia, 40 phlegmons, 47 abscesses and 12 superinfected wounds. The revision surgery rate was 9.4%, and the complication rate was 27.2%. One hundred and seventeen (40.8%) patients received preoperative antibiotic therapy from emergency physicians or general practitioners, among whom a complication rate of 31.6% was observed. The causal link did not reach the significance threshold for the whole group of patients (P=0.079). However, preoperative antibiotic use in phlegmon patients was directly correlated with the occurrence of at least one complication (P=0.032). In all, 82.9% of patients did not require postoperative antibiotic therapy, 95% of whom had an uncomplicated course.

Conclusions: Preoperative probabilistic antibiotic therapy is an independent risk factor for complications, particularly if given at a collected stage. Antibiotics should not be routinely prescribed postoperatively in a correct debridement is performed. We recommend that antibiotics be used only in very specific cases (osteitis, arthritis, necrosis and/or high-risk patients).