Bowel Preparation in Elective Pediatric Intestinal Surgery
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2020-12-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Infections after elective intestinal surgery remain a significant burden for patients and for
the health care system. The cost of treating a single surgical site infection is estimated at
approximately $27,000. In adult patients, there is good evidence that the combination of oral
antibiotics and mechanical bowel preparation is effective at reducing infections after
intestinal surgery. In children, the body of evidence is much weaker. In this population,
little evidence exists for oral antibiotics reducing infections and no data exists as to the
effect of combining antibiotics with mechanical bowel preparation (such as polyethylene
glycol (PEG)). The goal of the proposed study is to examine the effects of oral antibiotics
with and without the combined use of mechanical bowel preparation on the rate of
post-operative infectious complications in children aged 6 months to 18 years. This will be
compared to current practices, which is to abstain from any type of mechanical bowel
preparations or oral antibiotic administration before intestinal surgery.