Does mechanical bowel preparation improve quality of laparoscopic nephrectomy? Propensity score-matched analysis in...

To assess the effect of mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) before laparoscopic nephrectomy in terms of operation time and perioperative complications.

Patients undergoing laparoscopic nephrectomy for T1-T3 tumors were identified in the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database from 2008 to 2010. The patients were stratified into a preoperative MBP group (polyethylene glycol electrolyte, magnesium citrate solution, and sodium picosulfate) and a non-MBP group and were matched using one-to-one propensity score matching according to age, sex, Charlson score, T category, hospital volume, and hospital academic status. The operation time, postoperative length of stay, and overall complication rate were assessed by multivariate regression analyses.

Of 2740 patients in 355 hospitals, 1110 pairs were generated. The median operation time, postoperative stay, and overall complication rate (MBP vs non-MBP group) was 278 and 268 minutes (P<.004), 10.3 and 10.0 days (P=.695), and 11.8% and 11.4% (P=.740), respectively. The multivariate regression analyses did not find significant superiority of MBP for the 3 endpoints (all P>.05). A shorter operation time was significantly associated with female sex and early-stage tumor. Older age, greater Charlson score, and lower hospital volume adversely affected the postoperative stay and overall complication rate. Stage T3 tumor was unfavorable for the postoperative stay.

Our large-scale propensity score-matched analysis did not demonstrate a benefit for MBP in operation time, postoperative stay, or overall complications. The results suggest that MBP can be safely omitted before laparoscopic nephrectomy for T1-T3 tumors.