Background: Of all abdominal hernia, inguinal hernia is the most common hernia presenting in groin part of abdomen and open inguinal hernioplasty (Lichtenstein hernia repair) is one of the most commonly performed general surgery. Surgical site infections (SSIs) are the most common complications secondary to hernia repairs. Use of antibiotic prophylaxis in open inguinal hernioplasy (Lichtenstein hernia repair) is a conflicting issue for prevention of SSI. In the present study we compared the rate of postoperative wound infections in patients of antibiotic prophylaxis group and placebo group so that unnecessary use of antibiotics could be avoided. Method: The present study was a prospective randomized controlled study of 100 cases of open inguinal hernioplasty (Lichtenstein hernia repair) which was done over a period of 15 months from April 2017 to June 2018. 50 patients in antibiotic group received antibiotic ceftriaxon 1 gm and another 50 patient in placebo group received no antibiotic. Results: Mean age of patients was 45.86±15.49 years in antibiotic group and 43.14 ± 15.44 years in placebo group with range of 18–70 years. All the patients were males and most of the patients were from rural area (78%). Totally 3 patients developed surgical site infection (3%). In antibiotic group, one patient with superficial SSI and in placebo group, two patients, one with superficial SSI and another with deep SSI were noted (p value =0.557). Conclusion: There was no clear benefit of administering prophylactic systemic antibiotics for open inguinal hernioplasty (Lichtenstein hernia repair) as use of prophylactic antibiotics did not significantly reduced the incidence of wound infections. 

Keywords: Antibiotic Prophylaxis; Inguinal Hernioplasty; Surgical site infections (SSIs).