Fertility Outcomes after Surgical Management of Colorectal Endometriosis: A Single-center Retrospective Study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the pregnancy rate after surgery for colorectal endometriosis. DESIGN: A retrospective, single-center study performed from January 2014 to December 2019. SETTING: A university tertiary referral center. PATIENTS: Patients with the intention to get pregnant younger than the age of 43 years, with or without a history of infertility and who were surgically managed for colorectal endometriosis. INTERVENTIONS: Complete excision of deeply infiltrating endometriosis. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The postoperative pregnancy rate was assessed. Seventy-seven patients had surgery; their mean age was 32.5 ± 4.4 years. Preoperative documented infertility was present in 77.9% of patients (n = 60). The mean length of history of infertility was 36.2 ± 24.9 months. The procedure was performed by laparoscopic surgery in 92.2% of patients (n = 71). Nonconservative, conservative, and mixed treatment were performed in 66.2% (n = 51), 29.9% (n = 23), and 3.9% of patients (n = 3), respectively. According to the Clavien-Dindo classification, the 3B complication rate was 6.5% (n = 5). The mean follow-up was 46.7 ± 20.6 months. Clinical pregnancies were defined by the presence of intrauterine pregnancy with an embryo with cardiac activity. The postoperative pregnancy rate was 62.3% (n = 48), and 54.2% (n = 26) were spontaneous. The mean number of pregnancies was 1.2 ± 0.4 per patient. In addition, 18.7% of patients (n = 9) got pregnant twice. The mean time from surgery to pregnancy was 13.8 ± 13.1 months. The live birth rate was 89.1% (n = 41). There were no significant differences concerning the prognostic criteria reported in the literature (antimüllerian hormone level, age, presence of adenomyosis). There were no predictive criteria for live births. CONCLUSION: According to this study, surgery for colorectal endometriosis results in a high postoperative pregnancy rate. Studies with a high level of evidence are needed to determine good candidates for this type of surgery.

Updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials on the role of mechanical bowel preparation before colorectal surgery.

BACKGROUND: Earlier meta-analyses of small randomized trials suggested that mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) should be omitted before colorectal surgery because it does not affect complication rates 0 mortality and may be even harmful; however, more recent large randomized trials suggested an increased occurrence of pelvic abscesses in the absence of MBP. Therefore, an updated large meta-analysis was conducted to re-evaluate the role of MBP in colorectal surgery. Furthermore, the influence of different kind of MBP regimes on infectious outcomes was examined. METHODS: The meta-analysis was conducted according to the QUOROM statement; the inclusion criteria were randomized clinical trials comparing MBP with no MBP before colorectal surgery. The primary outcome was anastomotic leakage; secondary outcomes were other septic complications. RESULTS: Fourteen trials were included with a total number of 4859 patients: 2452 in the MBP group and 2407 in the no MBP group. We found no statistical difference between the groups for anastomotic leakage [OR = 1.12 (0.82-1.53), P = 0.46], pelvic or abdominal abscess (P = 0.75), and wound sepsis (P = 0.11). When all surgical site infections were considered, the meta-analysis favored no MBP [OR = 1.40 (1.05-1.87), P = 0.02].Sensitivity analyses showed similar results for all subgroups but when poor or small trials were excluded, there was a slightly higher risk of deep abdominal abscesses with no MBP, however, the number needed to harm was as high as 333 patients, suggesting this difference to be not clinically relevant. The use of different MBP regimes did not influence primary and secondary outcomes. The main limitation concerned rectal surgery for which the limited data preclude any interpretation. CONCLUSION: Although it did not confirm the harmful effect of mechanical bowel preparation (suggested by previous meta-analyses), this meta-analysis including almost 5000 patients, demonstrates with a high level of evidence that any kind of mechanical bowel preparation should be omitted before colonic surgery.