Bowel regimens before radical cystectomy: An analysis of a modern cohort

Introduction: Bowel regimens (BR) before radical cystectomy (RC) are currently not recommended by Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols, as prior studies have shown BRs lead to worsened outcomes. However, many of those studies have used historic literature before recent surgical advancements such as minimally invasive RC and have not investigated the impact BRs have by type of urinary diversion. Our goal is to determine the outcomes of preoperative BR in patients undergoing RC based on diversion type using a modern patient cohort.

Methods: RCs performed between 2019 and 2020 with BR information available were identified in the American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP). Patients were grouped by type of BR received: no BR, both mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) and preoperative oral antibiotic BR (OABR), MBP only, and OABR only. We conducted propensity score matching based on factors influencing the operative approach. Baseline demographics and 30-day complication rates were compared between matched groups. We analyzed hospital length of stay (LOS) via multivariate regression with a Poisson distribution.

Results: In total, 2054 RCs were identified with 2.4% receiving OABR, 21.3% receiving MBP, 5.3% receiving both, and 71.0% receiving no BR. For patients with ileal conduit diversions, outcomes with BRs appeared mixed, as OABR leads to increased LOS. For patients with neobladder diversions, BRs were not associated with any worsened outcomes and were associated with reduced length of stay.

Conclusions: BRs such as OABR may associated with improved outcomes in patients receiving RC with neobladder diversion, a finding that warrants further investigation.