[An analysis of the value of bowel preparation for preventing postoperative complications in endoscopic surgery]

To assess the relationship between mechanical preparation of the bowel before endourological surgery and the occurrence of postoperative complications.

A prospective, randomized study was conducted in 162 patients undergoing TUR of the bladder, TURP, and lase adenomectomy from October 2008 to February 2009. No patient was excluded. An enema was administered before surgery to 66 patients, but not to the remaining patients. Variables analyzed included occurrence of urinary tract infection (UTI), fever, acute urinary retention (AUR), postoperative need for enemas or laxatives, surgical field contamination, and mean hospital stay. A descriptive analysis, a means comparison (t test), and a Chi-square test were performed.

Mean patient age was 70.5 years (SD+/-10.62), and mean hospital stay 4.8 days (SD+/-3.9). UTI occurred in 6.2% of patients, fever in 3.1%, and AUR in 1.2%, and 15.4% of patients required enemas or laxatives. Fecal contamination of the surgical field was found in one patient (0.6%). There were no statistically significant differences between the study groups in the variables analyzed.

In our series, bowel preparation using enema has shown no value for decreasing postoperative complications of endourological surgery.