Efficacy of teicoplanin for the prevention of surgical site infections after total hip or knee arthroplasty: a prospective, open-label study.

A prospective randomised study was conducted in three centres to evaluate the efficacy of teicoplanin as antimicrobial prophylaxis for arthroplasties. From a total of 616 patients undergoing total hip or knee arthroplasty, 278 patients operated on in one centre were administered a single dose of 10mg/kg teicoplanin upon introduction of anaesthesia and the remaining 338 patients operated on in the other two centres were administered multiple doses of comparators for 4-6 days as decided by the attending physicians. Follow-up was done for 24 months.