Postoperative Oral Antibiotics and Sinonasal Outcomes Following Endoscopic Transsphenoidal Surgery for Pituitary Tumors Study: A Multicenter, Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Study

Background: Postoperative prophylactic antibiotics are commonly used in pituitary surgery, but evidence supporting their use is lacking, which has implications for antibiotic stewardship.

Objective: To evaluate whether receipt of postoperative oral antibiotics results in superior sinonasal quality of life (QOL) compared with placebo among patients who undergo endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal pituitary surgery.

Methods: Patients were randomized to receive either oral placebo or cefdinir (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in patients intolerant to cefdinir) for 7 d after surgery. They were monitored for 12 wk. The primary outcome measure was sinonasal QOL at 2 wk on the Anterior Skull Base Nasal Inventory-12. Supplementary end points included sinonasal QOL reported on the Sinonasal Outcome Test-22 and objective endoscopy scores to assess nasal healing according to the Lund-Kennedy method.

Results: A total of 461 patients were screened, 131 were randomized, and 113 (placebo arm: 55; antibiotic arm: 58) were analyzed. There was no clinically meaningful or statistically significant difference in sinonasal QOL at any measured time point (P ≥ .24) using either instrument. Nasal cavity endoscopy scores were not significantly different at 1 to 2 wk after surgery (P = .25) or at 3 to 4 wk after surgery (P = .08).

Conclusion: Postoperative prophylactic oral antibiotics did not result in superior sinonasal QOL compared with placebo among patients who underwent standard endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery.