Preoperative mechanical bowel preparation unnecessary in patients undergoing thoracic surgery.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess a hypothesis that routine mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) is unnecessary before thoracic surgery.


METHODS
Five hundreds and sixty cases of standard thoracic surgery including unilateral thoracotomies, bilateral thoracotomies, median sternotomies and video-assisted thoracic surgery have been performed in Kyushu Medical Center Hospital from June 1999 to December 2002. Two hundreds and eighty cases received preoperative MBP and the other 280 cases did not receive it. The usefulness of MBP was assessed retrospectively with these patients.


RESULTS
It proved that cessation of MBP did not provide any disadvantage for postoperative complication and hospital stay.


CONCLUSIONS
From these results, routine MBP appears to be unnecessary before thoracic surgery.
Yamazaki
Koji
K
Department of Thoracic Surgery and Clinical Research Institute, National Kyushu Medical Center Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan.
Takeo
Sadanori
S
Maehara
Yoshihiko
Y
D000328:Adult; D002400:Cathartics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004733:Enema / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019616:Thoracic Surgical Procedures
D002400:Cathartics