Abstract
There are discrepancies in guidelines on bowel preparation for colorectal surgery. While intravenous (IV) antibiotics are commonly administered, the use of mechanical bowel preparation (MBP), enema (E) and/or oral antibiotics (OA) is controversial. This controversy stems in part from the historical use of inadequate IV antibiotics.
Our aim was to summarise all data from randomised controlled trials (RCT) by using network meta-analysis (NMA) to determine the ranking of different bowel preparation treatment strategies. This NMA is the first comprehensive review of this topic that accounts for the impact of antibiotic type and compares the efficacy of all bowel preparation options in reducing postoperative infections.