Prospective, randomized, double-blind trial comparing teicoplanin and cefazolin as antibiotic prophylaxis in prosthetic vascular surgery.

To compare efficacy, tolerability, and cost of antibiotic prophylaxis with teicoplanin and cefazolin in clean prosthetic vascular surgery, a randomized, prospective, double-blind study was performed at the Vascular Surgery Unit of a tertiary-care university hospital. Two-hundred thirty-eight consecutive patients undergoing elective, clean, abdominal or lower-limb prosthetic vascular surgery were allocated to receive a single intravenous dose of teicoplanin (400 mg) or cefazolin (2 g) at the induction of anesthesia. Surgical-site infections occurred in 5.

Transcranial Doppler monitoring during carotid endarterectomy: is it appropriate for selecting patients in need of a shunt?

Purpose: This report summarizes our experience in evaluating a series of 168 patients who underwent a total of 175 carotid endarterectomy procedures under local anesthesia. Patients were monitored by stump pressure (SP) measurement and transcranial Doppler scanning (TCD). The need for shunting was compared between SP/TCD flow velocity reduction and the awake response (gold standard).