NCT04631185

Surgical Site Infection and Antibiotic Use Study

Antibiotics and Surgical Site Infection in Expander Based Breast Reconstruction Trial (ASSERT) A Multi-institutional Randomized Controlled Trial to Determine the Optimal Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Tissue Expander-based Breast Reconstruction

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 235 (actual)
• Sponsor: The Plastic Surgery Foundation · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study is a prospective, multi-institutional, noninferiority, randomized control trial that will compare the efficacy of two antibiotic treatments in preventing SSI in patients receiving immediate breast reconstruction with tissue expanders (TE-BR). The patients will be randomly assigned to one of the two treatment groups. One group will receive a single dose of antibiotics just before surgery and if necessary, more doses during the surgery. The other group will receive the same treatment as the first group, along with an additional week of antibiotics after surgery. The study will assess the rates of SSI from the two groups. It will also assess the type, duration and method (oral vs. intravenous) of subsequent antibiotic use for patients who develop SSIs in each group.

Detailed description

Among plastic surgeons, the clinical practice of prescribing postoperative prophylactic antibiotics following postmastectomy breast reconstruction with tissue expanders ranges widely from no postoperative antibiotics, to 5-7 days post-op, to antibiotics until the drains are removed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a single preoperative antibiotic dose for clean and clean-contaminated procedures, even in the presence of a drain. With the CDC creating a national action plan to reduce unnecessary prophylactic antibiotics for clean non-contaminated cases by advocating use of only a single pre-operative dose of antibiotics (see: https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/pdf/national\_action\_plan\_for\_combating\_antibotic-resistant\_bacteria.pdf ) there is mounting pressure on the plastic surgery community to adopt this regimen of SSI prophylaxis. Because there are no definitive studies that provide sufficient or conclusive evidence to affect antibiotic practice patterns among plastic surgeons on a large-scale, plastic surgeons use a wide variety of protocols for their SSI prophylaxis, especially in implant-based breast reconstruction. Plastic surgeons have generally not adopted CDC guidelines because these recommendations were not based on studies in plastic surgery patients, and the use of foreign body implants underneath devitalized soft tissue can be associated with higher infection risks. Based on the literature and from self-reporting from ASPS membership, there is a wide range of prophylactic antibiotic use to prevent SSI from as little as one preoperative dose to many weeks of therapy; one week of post-operative antibiotics is the most common form. However, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends a single preoperative dose of antibiotics for clean cases, even in the presence of a drain. Prolonged antibiotic courses can lead to antibiotic complications and development of resistance. Definitive studies to determine an optimal therapeutic strategy to prevent SSI in implant-based plastic surgical procedures are lacking. This study will address a dilemma in common plastic surgical operation: the use of post-operative antibiotics in prosthesis-based breast reconstruction. The central hypothesis for this multi-institutional, prospective randomized control trial (RCT) is that a single pre-operative dose of intravenous antibiotics with intraoperative redosing (SPD) is no worse (noninferiority design) at preventing SSI in tissue expander-based breast reconstruction (TE-BR) than an additional week of post-operative antibiotic prophylaxis (WPO). This trial will evaluate the efficacy of single preoperative dose versus one-week antibiotic regimens in preventing surgical site infection after tissue expander breast reconstruction. The investigators will assess the rates of SSI from the SPD vs. the WPO groups. They will assess the type, duration and method (oral vs. intravenous) of subsequent antibiotic use for patients who develop SSIs in each group. The study will also compare the readmission and premature expander removal rates due to SSI and the adverse antibiotic side effects in the two groups.

Conditions

• Surgical Site Infection
• Breast Reconstruction
• Antibiotic Use

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Single pre-operative dose of intravenous antibiotics with intraoperative redosing	Intravenous cefazolin, a cephalosporin antibiotic, will be prescribed to all patients before surgery. In case of allergy to cefazolin, intravenous clindamycin will be prescribed. For allergy to both antibiotics, an appropriate antibiotic should be chosen by the surgeon and documented. All patients will receive one dose of antibiotic within 60 minutes prior to incision, and any intraoperative doses of antibiotics according to current recommendations based on the antibiotic's dosing and on operative time.
DRUG	One week of post-operative antibiotics	The patients will be prescribed one week of Cephalosporin Antibiotic (Keflex/Duricef/Other) of their surgeon's choice.

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-05-07
• Primary completion: 2023-12-31
• Completion: 2024-05-20
• First posted: 2020-11-17
• Last updated: 2024-05-29

Locations

5 sites across 1 country: United States