• Surgical infections · Dec 2008

    Mechanical bowel preparation or not for elective colorectal surgery.

    • Kamal M F Itani and Lawrence Kim.
    • Veterans Affairs Boston Health Care System and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. kitani@med.va.gov
    • Surg Infect (Larchmt). 2008 Dec 1;9(6):563-5.

    BackgroundMechanical bowel preparation has been a mainstay in the management of patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery, but in recent years, this practice has been challenged; and a number of clinical reports have demonstrated no benefit, as judged by reduction of surgical site infections. This paper presents the advantages and disadvantages of mechanical bowel preparation.MethodsReview of the pertinent English language literature.ResultsSome published studies support omission of mechanical preparation of the colon prior to elective colo-rectal surgery. However, the evidence is not definitive, in that the most rigorous study performed to date, a large, randomized trial, is non-confirmatory.ConclusionsAdditional stratified studies of different mechanical bowel preparation methods, compared with no preparation, are required to address whether the practice should be abandoned.

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