Antimicrobial prophylaxis is not necessary in clean category minimally invasive surgery for renal and adrenal tumors: a prospective study of 373 consecutive patients.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of the nonuse of antimicrobial prophylaxis (AMP) on the incidence of infectious complications after clean category minimally invasive surgery for renal and adrenal tumors.

Methods: We evaluated 415 consecutive patients who underwent gasless laparoendoscopic single-port surgery (GasLESS) for renal or adrenal tumors between 2006 and 2010. Forty-two patients with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, coexisting infection, or opening of the urinary tract during partial nephrectomy were excluded from this study. The remaining 373 patients underwent radical nephrectomy (n = 187), partial nephrectomy (n = 103), or adrenalectomy (n = 83) without AMP. Perioperative infections were categorized into superficial surgical site infection (SSI), deep SSI, and remote infection (RI) and graded using an established 5-grade modification of the original Clavien-Dindo classification system. We investigated the association between the incidence of infectious complications and clinical or perioperative factors.

Results: Infectious complications occurred in 16 cases (4.3%), including 4 superficial SSIs (1.1%), 2 deep SSIs (0.5%), and 10 RIs (2.7%). Neither superficial SSI nor deep SSI was significantly associated with any clinical or perioperative factors. The incidence of RI, however, was associated with longer operative time and higher National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NNIS) risk index. All perioperative infections were successfully treated with antibiotics without surgical interventions. No infectious complications equal to or greater than grade IIIa occurred.

Conclusion: The nonuse of AMP and the on-demand use of antibiotics seem to be sufficient for perioperative infectious management in clean category minimally invasive surgery for renal and adrenal tumors.