From
StayCurrentMD
Update Course Rewind: Effects of Mechanical Bowel Prep on SSIs 2022
Chapter 1 of 2 · Evidence & Research
Bowel prep efficacy
Mechanical bowel prep and SSI in pediatric colorectal surgery
Expert statements on this page
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Host summaries · secondary, not cited in answers
Educational content from recorded physician discussions — not medical advice. Talk to your (or your child's) care team about your situation.
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What the experts said
In the latest adult surgical literature looking at whether mechanical bowel preparation reduces the rate of surgical site infections, they really haven't seen a benefit of doing mechanical bowel preparation.
Multiple studies including a Cochrane review have shown no benefit of mechanical bowel preparation for reducing surgical site infections.
Appropriate timing of preoperative intravenous antibiotics has strong data supporting its use.
There is no strong data to support mechanical bowel prep decreasing leaks, decreasing hospital stay, or promoting early feeding.
Some smaller case series exist on the use of oral antibiotics like Flagyl.
Pre-operative IV antibiotics 30 minutes before starting the procedure has been shown to decrease the rate of surgical site infections in colorectal surgery.
In adult studies, pre-operative oral antibiotics have been associated with reducing surgical site infections.
The benefit of oral antibiotics for reducing SSIs hasn't been seen in recent pediatric colorectal retrospective studies.