Mechanical bowel preparation continues to be a controversial subject for the pre-operative management of patients undergoing elective colon resection.
Methods:
The English literature on bowel preparation was searched to identify pertinent publications.
Results:
The published literature over the past 80 y confirms that mechanical bowel preparation alone does not reduce surgical site infections. However, the use of appropriate oral antibiotics following mechanical bowel preparation with pre-operative systemic antibiotics reduces rates of surgical site infections and anastomotic leaks when compared with systemic antibiotics alone.
Conclusions:
Mechanical bowel preparation with pre-operative oral antibiotics and pre-operative systemic antibiotics are the standard of care for elective colon surgery. Refinement in methods of bowel preparation needs additional clinical investigations to further enhance outcomes.
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