The influence of mechanical bowel preparation on long-term survival in patients surgically treated for colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we evaluated long-term survival in patients treated with and without mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) before colorectal surgery for cancer.

METHODS: Long-term outcome of patients of 2 main participating hospitals in a prior multicenter randomized trial comparing clinical outcome of MBP versus no MBP was reviewed. Primary endpoint was cancer-related mortality and secondary endpoint was all-cause mortality.

RESULTS: A total of 382 patients underwent potentially curative surgery for colorectal cancer. One hundred seventy-seven (46%) patients were treated with MBP and 205 (54%) were not before surgery. Median follow-up was 7.6 years (mean 6.6, range .01 to 12.73). There was no significant difference in both cancer-related mortality and all-cause mortality in patients treated with MBP and without MBP (P = .76 and P = .36, respectively). Multivariate analysis, taking account of age, sex, AJCC cancer stage, and ASA classification, also showed no survival difference.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that MBP does not seem to influence long-term survival in patients surgically treated for colorectal cancer.