Mechanical Bowel Preparation Versus no Bowel Preparation for Esophageal Cancer Surgery

Patients allocated to MBP will be instructed by the study nurse to prepare their bowel mechanically by drinking 3~4L of polyethylene glycol (Polyethylene Glycol Electrolytes Powder 68.56g; Shenzhen, China) with water before 6pm in the evening the day before the surgery. Patients allocated to NBP were instructed to not prepare the bowel. The receipt of the allocated intervention will be controlled by study nurse asking the patients on the morning of the surgery whether they had acted as instructed by the allocation. This information will be also concealed from treating physicians and surgeons, data collectors, and data analysts, until the primary and secondary outcomes were analyzed. All patients will follow the ERAS protocol. Prophylactic intravenous antibiotics (cephamycin 1000mg) will be given to all patients 30 minutes before skin incision. The prophylactic intravenous antibiotics will re-administered if the surgery lasted longer than 3h from the first antibiotic dose. Surgical skin preparation will involve taking a bath well the night before operation without shaving the hair. Just before skin incision, the area will then washed three times with denatured 80% alcohol to left to dry.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients who were scheduled for esophageal cancer resection in participating centers were eligible for inclusion.

Exclusion criteria

• need for emergency surgery;
• previous chronic constipation or diarrhea;
• previous abdominal surgery; need for colonic reconstruction;
• other indications for mechanical preparation or contraindications;
• allergy to drugs used in the trial (polyethylene glycol)