Will Cleaning the Bowel With an Enema Before Vaginal Prolapse Surgery Prevent Complications?

Do Preoperative Enemas Prevent Complications in Vaginal Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery?

Traditionally, many gynecologic surgeons have asked patients to perform a cleansing enema the night before a vaginal surgery done to repair pelvic organ prolapse (dropped bladder, dropped uterus). The belief is that there is then less or no stool present at the vaginal incision and less chance of infection of the wound by bowel bacteria. However, not all surgeons follow this practice. There is no evidence in the medical literature if one way is better than the other. In this study, patients scheduled for vaginal surgery to correct prolapse will be randomly assigned to perform an enema or not to perform an enema.

The factors to be measured will be wound infection rates, and need to cleanse an incision of escaped stool.

Inclusion Criteria:

• female, AND
• undergoing vaginal surgery for prolapse.

Exclusion Criteria:

• pregnant women,
• age younger than eighteen,
• male sex, OR
• concurrent abdominal surgery.