Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland
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Comparative Study
The prevalence of iron deficiency among patients presenting with colorectal cancer.
To examine prospectively the prevalence of iron deficiency among new patients presenting with colorectal cancer and to compare transferrin saturation and serum ferritin as markers of iron deficiency in this group of patients. ⋯ The majority of patients with a new diagnosis of colorectal cancer are iron deficient at presentation. In such patients transferrin saturation measurement is a more sensitive marker of iron deficiency than serum ferritin. The potential role of measuring serum transferrin saturation as an adjunct to faecal occult blood screening should be explored further.
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Review Meta Analysis
Pre-operative mechanical bowel cleansing or not? an updated meta-analysis.
Pre-operative mechanical bowel preparation has been considered an efficient regimen against leakage and infectious complications, after colorectal resections. This dogma is based only on observational data and experts' opinions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of prophylactic pre-operative mechanical bowel preparation before elective colorectal surgery. ⋯ There is no evidence that patients benefit from mechanical bowel preparation. On the contrary taking colorectal surgery as a whole, pre-operative bowel cleansing leads to a higher rate of anastomotic leakage. The dogma that mechanical bowel preparation is necessary before elective colorectal surgery has to be reconsidered.