24 Antibiotic Therapy
The goal of antibiotic therapy is to prevent contamination of the wound or surgical field with bacterial pathogens.
Midface fractures of the head and neck region in close proximity to the skull base are always associated with a risk of infection in cerebrospinal fluid-filled spaces. Antibiotics administered for head trauma should therefore be as broadly active as possible and must readily enter cerebrospinal fluid. Treatment is usually immediate—i. e., without an antibiogram—as the risk of life-threatening complications is too great.