An editorial notes that important shortcomings of the study acknowledged by the researchers include 18% nonadherence to the protocol and a lack of statistical power to ensure equivalence. It adds that other shortcomings include lack of data on antibiotic-related adverse events, differences in postoperative hospital stays in the two study groups, and antibiograms of organisms detected in samples obtained from patients with complications such as surgical-site infections or recurrent intraabdominal infections. However it acknowledges that reduced antibiotic exposure might favourably influence the burden of related adverse events.