Mechanical bowel preparation for elective colorectal surgery: a multicentre randomised trial.

This article presents the results of research to discover if mechanical bowel preparation used before colorectal surgery was of value to the patient. The study compared the rate of anastomotic leakage after colorectal resections and any adverse effects. In this study of 1431 patients, the authors found that the rate of anastomotic leakage did not differ between the two groups but that patients who had the mechanical bowel preparation had fewer abscesses after the leakage than did the others. Additional septic complications did not vary between the populations so the authors advise that mechanical bowel preparation can be abandoned in elective colorectal surgeries.