Current practice in bowel preparation for colorectal surgery: a survey of the members of the Association of Coloproctology of GB & Ireland.

AIM

Recent meta-analyses have suggested that mechanical bowel preparation is not beneficial in patients undergoing colorectal resection. This study aimed to assess current surgical practice in the UK.

METHOD

Three hundred and ninety-eight members of the Association of Coloproctology of GB & Ireland were invited to complete an online survey to ascertain their current practice for bowel preparation.

RESULTS

One hundred and ninety-nine surgeons completed the survey, of whom 95 (48%) routinely performed laparoscopic resection. The proportions using full bowel preparation for open vs laparoscopic surgery were, respectively, 9.5%vs 16.8% for right hemicolectomy, 43.4%vs 40.2% for left hemicolectomy, 20.5%vs 22.5% for an abdominoperineal resection and 72.2%vs 63.6% for low anterior resection. Among the surgeons who participated, 13.6% changed their practice between doing the same procedure open and laparoscopically, 76% of surgeons routinely defunctioned a low anterior resection. Of these, 22% did not feel that full bowel preparation was necessary before formation of an ileostomy.

CONCLUSION

The study demonstrates that a large proportion of patients still receive full bowel preparation despite recent advice to the contrary.