The role of cefoxitin prophylaxis in chronic pilonidal sinus treated with excision and primary suture.

BACKGROUND: Treatment of chronic pilonidal sinus with excision and primary suture is followed by a relatively high proportion of wound infections. The role of preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis in improving results is not clear. STUDY DESIGN: One hundred fifty-three patients with chronic pilonidal sinus were operated on with radical excision and primary suture and randomized to receive a single dose antibiotic prophylaxis of 2 g cefoxitin intravenously (n = 78) or no prophylaxis (n = 75). RESULTS: The most common complications consisted of partial, slight separation of wound edges with slight discharge. In the group with cefoxitin, 34 patients (44 percent) had complications compared with 32 patients (43 percent) in the group without prophylaxis. Fifty-four patients (69 percent) healed within four weeks in the group with cefoxitin, whereas 48 (64 percent) healed within four weeks in the group without prophylaxis. After a follow-up period of six to 30 months, two patients in each group had not healed. Including these, two patients (3 percent) had recurrences in the group with cefoxitin and five patients (7 percent) in the group without prophylaxis (p = 0.41). CONCLUSIONS: The immediate and short-term results after excision and primary suture for chronic pilonidal sinus are not influenced significantly by a single dose prophylaxis of 2 g cefoxitin.