Radical hysterectomy is associated with a high risk of postoperative infectious morbidity. A series of 73 patients who underwent abdominal radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy is presented. Hospital charts were reviewed to determine the influence of surgical characteristics and of different antibiotic prophylaxis regimens on postoperative septic complications. The overall incidence of postoperative infections was 31.5%; in 13 patients had urinary tract infections (17.7%), 3 surgical site-related infections (4.1%) and 6 febrile morbidity (8.2%). There were also 3 cases of phlebitis and 3 infectious events at distant sites. No interaction was observed between the examined risk factors and the overall infectious morbidity. Time of surgical procedure and average blood transfusion show a trend toward increased values in patients with complications compared to patients with regular postoperative course. The most important current controversy about the use of prophylaxis in radical hysterectomy concerns the duration of postoperative treatment. In this series the major part of the subjects received a long-term antibiotic prophylaxis regimen (greater than 72 hours), and only 18% received a perioperative prophylaxis. Women without postoperative complications were more frequently treated with a long-term antibiotic prophylaxis (82%) compared to women with infectious morbidity (65%). Moreover, in patients with complications, the proportion of cases who needed an additional antibiotic therapy was lower in the group receiving long-term prophylaxis (20%) compared to the short-term group (83%).