Objective: There are controversies about the benefits of prophylactic antibiotics in prevention of postoperative surgical site infection in mesh herniorrhaphy for a long time. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficacy of systemic prophylactic Cefazolin in prevention of wound infection in various types of hernia repair with mesh materials. Methods: We evaluated wound infection rates in 395 patients with various kinds of hernia who underwent elective mesh repair using polypropylene mesh from 2007 to 2011. Twenty hundred thirty seven (60.0%) patients received prophylactic Cefazolin as the study group and the other 158 (40.0%) with no prophylactic antibiotics were allocated to the control group.Patients were followed for infection at 10 and 30 days, 12 months after operation and annually for at least 2 years by an independent surgeon. Results: Eight (2.03%) patients had infection in the site of surgery (2, 1.27% in control and 6, 2.53% in study groups). The distribution of infection was not significantly different between two groups (p=0.364). The superficial infections were managed by drainage and irrigation. One patient from study group developed deep surgical site infection that was readmitted and underwent antibiotic therapy, drainage and debridement. Conclusion: Preoperative administration of single-dose Cefazolin for prosthetic hernia repairs did not markedly decrease the risk of wound infection. Our results do not support use of Cefazolin as a prophylactic antibiotic for various kinds of abdominal wall hernia repair with mesh.

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