METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed in this institution with patients who underwent elective colon surgery from 2013-2019. Patients received different types of bowel preparation and were divided into three different groups: no mechanical bowel preparation (MBP-), mechanical bowel preparation without oral antibiotics (MBP+/OABP-) and with oral antibiotics (MBP+/OABP+). These groups were compared with respect to surgical site infections, anastomotic leakage, and the duration of postoperative ileus.
RESULTS: A total of 260 consecutive patients (MBP- n = 48, MBP+/OABP- n = 145 and MBP+/OABP+ n = 67) were analyzed. With a combined bowel preparation, the rate of surgical site infections could be considerably reduced (MBP- vs. MBP+/OABP+ 16.7% vs. 4.5%, p = 0.05). The type of bowel preparation was identified as the only factor associated with the incidence of surgical site infections; however, the type of bowel preparation did not have an influence on the rate of anastomotic leakages or duration of postoperative ileus in univariate and multivariate analyses.
CONCLUSIONS: Bowel preparation with mechanical cleansing and oral antibiotics (MBP+/OABP+) is beneficial due to a significant reduction of surgical site infections.