Abstract

ARREDONDO ORTIZ, Mario Alberto; HERNANDEZ AMADOR, José Fernando  and  VILLANUEVA SAENZ, Eduardo. Colon preparation for elective colorectal surgery. Acta méd. Grupo Ángeles [online]. 2019, vol.17, n.1, pp.33-37.  Epub May 11, 2021. ISSN 1870-7203.

Bowel preparation prior to an elective colorectal surgery is controversial. Throughout the last two decades, evidence has suggested that mechanical bowel preparation on its own does not offer a significant benefit in preventing infectious complications or other causes of patient morbidity, and that it should be abandoned. These findings contradict a practice that was considered a surgical dogma for almost a century. On the other hand, the combined use of oral antibiotics and mechanical bowel preparation has proved to be significantly effective in reducing surgical site infection, anastomotic leak, postoperative ileus, hospital stay, readmission and mortality, compared to mechanical bowel preparation only or no preparation. High-level evidence studies that prove that this practice should be universally adopted are still lacking. In the meantime, current available evidence suggests that the combination of mechanical preparation and oral antibiotics should be used in order to reduce morbidity and mortality in these patients.

Keywords : Bowel preparation; elective colorectal surgery; mechanical bowel preparation; oral antibiotics; surgical site infection.

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