Preoperative oral antibiotics and mechanical bowel preparation for left-sided colorectal surgery

Surgical site infection (SSI) is the most frequent postoperative morbidity in colorectal surgery. Once SSI occurs, hospital stay and medical cost increase, resulting in decreased quality of lives of patients. Therefore, controlling SSI has been recognized as the major challenge for surgeons. For this purpose, the use of prophylactic antimicrobial agents is now widely accepted in colorectal surgery.