Antimicrobial prophylaxis and the prevention of surgical site infection in cardiac surgery: an analysis of 21 007 patients in Switzerland†.

Objectives: Our goal was to determine the optimal timing and choice of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis (SAP) in patients having cardiac surgery.

Methods: The setting was the Swiss surgical site infection (SSI) national surveillance system with a follow-up rate of >94%. Participants were patients from 14 hospitals who had cardiac surgery from 2009 to 2017 with clean wounds, SAP with cefuroxime, cefazolin or a vancomycin/cefuroxime combination and timing of SAP within 120 min before the incision.