Bowel Preparation Before Hysterectomy — Worth It?

Although preoperative bowel preparation is often recommended before hysterectomy, its value remains unclear. Investigators conducted a retrospective cohort study using administrative claims data from 2006 to 2017 to determine if mechanical bowel preparation alone, oral antibiotics alone, or a combination were associated with reduced surgical site infections or anastomotic leaks compared with no bowel preparation following open or minimally invasive hysterectomy for benign (83%) or malignant (17%) indications in some 225,000 women. In all, 0.4% of benign and 2.8% of malignant hysterectomies involved bowel resection.

Bowel preparation of any type did not reduce rates of surgical site infection, anastomotic leaks, or major morbidity regardless …