title: Is there a role for bowel preparation and oral or parenteral antibiotics in infection control in contemporary colon surgery?
abstract: The numbers of unanswered questions are many. Can intraoperative application, such as topical antimicrobial use in pulsed lavage, reduce the microbial burden on the wound interface before closure? Can closed suction drains within the closed surgical incision reduce infection rates, especially in patients with a large body mass index? What is the role of delayed primary closure or secondary closure in the wound where obvious contamination has occurred, or in the circumstance of emergent colonic resection where considerable contamination is encountered from preexistent perforation? Should immediate negative-pressure wound dressings be applied in the open contaminated wound? These and many other questions still confront the surgeon in the challenge of the surgical wound in major colorectal surgery.
authors.affiliation: Section of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA. s0gala01@louisville.edu
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galandiuk
authors.forename: Donald E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Fry
authors.forename: Hiram C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Polk
mesh_terms: D058107:Abdominal Wound Closure Techniques; D000284:Administration, Oral; D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis; D003106:Colon / Q000382:microbiology; D003108:Colonic Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D013505:Digestive System Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D011300:Preoperative Care; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*