Mechanical Bowel Preparation for Laparoscopic Gynecological Surgery: Controversy Continues

To Prep or not to Prep Mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) has been used extensively over the years by both general surgeons and gynecologist alike and has remained a controversial practice. It has many purported benefits including decreasing postoperative complications, surgical site infections, and bowel spillage/leakage if an injury were to occur, allowing for repair by primary anastomosis, as well as reported improving visualization and bowel handling. However, there has been a decline in use of MBP recently, mostly attributable to the lack of evidence in the medical literature supporting it. It has been considered a surgical dogma with mostly only observational studies and expert opinion supporting its use.