Trial reportInternational journal of colorectal disease2005
Prospective, randomised study on antibiotic prophylaxis in colorectal surgery. Is it really necessary to use oral antibiotics?
Trial report in International journal of colorectal disease, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 93 citations in OpenAlex.
- Adding Preoperative Oral Antibiotics to Mechanical Bowel Preparation Reduces Surgical Site Infections in Elective Colorectal Surgery: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Pooled it
- Mechanical bowel preparation and antibiotics in elective colorectal surgery: network meta-analysis.BJS open · 2023Pooled it
- Preoperative combined mechanical and oral antibiotic bowel preparation for preventing complications in elective colorectal surgery.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- The Japan Society for Surgical Infection: guidelines for the prevention, detection, and management of gastroenterological surgical site infection, 2018.Surgery today · 2021Pooled it
- Antibiotic prophylaxis in colorectal surgery: are oral, intravenous or both best and is mechanical bowel preparation necessary?Techniques in coloproctology · 2020Pooled it
- The Role of Oral Antibiotic Preparation in Elective Colorectal Surgery: A Meta-analysis.Annals of surgery · 2019Pooled it
- Association of Mechanical Bowel Preparation and Oral Antibiotics Before Elective Colorectal Surgery With Surgical Site Infection: A Network Meta-analysis.JAMA network open · 2018Pooled it
- The role of oral antibiotics prophylaxis in prevention of surgical site infection in colorectal surgery.International journal of colorectal disease · 2017Pooled it
- Antimicrobial prophylaxis for colorectal surgery.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014Pooled it
- Combination of oral non-absorbable and intravenous antibiotics versus intravenous antibiotics alone in the prevention of surgical site infections after colorectal surgery: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Techniques in coloproctology · 2011Pooled it
- Tolerability and impact on postoperative morbidity of preoperative bowel preparation in Crohn's disease patients: results of prospective observational study.International journal of colorectal disease · 2026Observational
- Effect of Preoperative Oral Antibiotics for Prevention of Incisional Surgical Site Infection After Colorectal Surgery: A Propensity Score Matching Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- Review
- How to prevent postoperative ileus in colorectal surgery? a systematic review.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2023Review
- Article
- Effect of preoperative oral antibiotics and mechanical bowel preparation on the prevention of surgical site infection in elective colorectal surgery, and does oral antibiotic regime matter? a bayesian network meta-analysis.International journal of colorectal disease · 2023Review
- Preparing the Bowel (Microbiome) for Surgery: Surgical Bioresilience.Clinics in colon and rectal surgery · 2023Review
- Bundles reduce anastomosis leak in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. A propensity score-matched study.Frontiers in surgery · 2023Article
- A Network Meta-Analysis and GRADE Assessment of the Effect of Preoperative Oral Antibiotics with and Without Mechanical Bowel Preparation on Surgical Site Infection Rate in Colorectal Surgery.Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches · 2022Article
- Oncologic colorectal surgical site infection: oral or not oral antibiotic preparation, that is the question.International journal of colorectal disease · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsThe use of prophylactic antibiotics in addition to mechanical cleansing is the current standard of care prior to colonic surgery. The question of whether the antibiotics should be administered intravenously or orally, or by both routes, remains controversial. Our aim was to compare three methods of prophylactic antibiotic administration in elective colorectal surgery.
methodsThree hundred consecutive elective colorectal resections were studied. All patients had preoperative mechanical colon cleansing with oral sodium phosphate and intravenous antibiotic prophylaxis with cefoxitin (one dose before skin incision and two postoperative doses). Patients were randomised to one of the following three groups: group A: three doses of oral antibiotic (neomycin and metronidazole) at the time of mechanical colon cleansing; group B: one dose of oral antibiotic; group C: no oral antibiotics. All patients were followed during their hospital stay and at 7, 14 and 30 days post-surgery.
resultsVomiting occurred in 31%, 11% and 9% of the studied patients (groups A, B and C, respectively) (p<0.001). Nausea was present in 44%, 18% and 13% of patients (p<0.001). Abdominal pain was recorded in 13%, 10% and 4% of patients (p: 0.077). Wound infection was present in 7%, 8% and 6% and suture dehiscence occurred in 2%, 2% and 3% of the patients in the three groups (no differences among them). Neither were differences found among the three groups in terms of urinary infections, pneumonia, postoperative ileus or intra-abdominal abscess.
conclusionThe addition of three doses of oral antibiotics to intravenous antibiotic prophylaxis is associated with lower patient tolerance in terms of increased nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, and has shown no advantages in the prevention of postoperative septic complications. Therefore, we recommend that oral antibiotics should not be used prior to colorectal surgery.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.