Comparing No Mechanical Bowel Preparation With Oral Antibiotics Alone in Patients Undergoing Elective Colon Surgery

A Randomised Study Comparing No Mechanical Bowel Preparation With Oral Antibiotics Alone in Patients Undergoing Elective Colon Surgery (REaCT-NSQIP)

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Phase 4

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT03663504

Acronym

REaCT-NSQIP

Enrollment

630

Registered

2018-09-10

Start date

2018-10-23

Completion date

2026-10-01

Last updated

2026-06-16

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Elective Colon Surgery

Keywords

Oral Antibiotics, Preoperative Mechanical Bowel Preparation, Surgical Site Infection, C. difficile

Brief summary

The REaCT NSQIP will compare oral antibiotics vs. no antibiotics, which are two standards of care treatments for preoperative preparation of the bowel prior to colorectal surgery

Detailed description

The divergence of clinical practice guidelines, in addition to observation from the large North American retrospective studies, suggest that surgeons and centers have not established a standard of care for the preoperative preparation of the bowel prior to colorectal surgery. Specifically, some centers are employing no preparation, others are administering a mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) and oral antibiotics and still others are using oral antibiotics alone. Recently, the Canadian Society of Colorectal Surgeons was unable to come to a consensus when attempting to update their preoperative guidelines because of the lack of agreement on best practice (personal communication). This is an important yet controversial topic in colorectal surgery and a clinical trial comparing two standard of care therapies will impact current practice in Canada. The REaCT-NSQIP study compares post-operative surgical infectious complications, length of stay, incidence of C. difficile rates, patient quality of life and cost-effectiveness in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery with either no preparation or oral antibiotics. Data will be collected from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) and from patient quality of life questionnaires preoperatively and 30 days postoperatively In this study, it is hypothesized that it is the oral antibiotics, and not the MBP, that is responsible for the reduction in postoperative infectious surgical complications (deep or superficial surgical site infection (SSI)) in patients undergoing elective colorectal resections. This improvement in postoperative infectious complications is not anticipated to result in a clinically significant increase in postoperative C. difficile infections or antibiotic resistant hospital-acquired infections.

Interventions

OTHERNo Preparation

No preparation before surgery

DRUGNeomycin and Flagyl

Oral antibiotic (Neomycin and Flagyl) taken the day before the surgery

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* Patients undergoing elective, non-emergency colon, resection surgery or abdominal perineal resection and no other requirements exists for a mechanical bowel preparation (as determined by the operating surgeon) * 18 years of age or older * Able to provide oral consent

Exclusion criteria

* Contraindication to the oral antibiotics, including allergies or adverse reactions to either metronidazole or neomycin * Undergoing a rectal resection with a planned anastomosis (these patients will all receive MBP) * Emergency surgery where no opportunity to administer preoperative oral antibiotics exists * Requirement for a MBP (i.e. rectal resection with pelvic anastomosis, intraoperative colonoscopy, or at the discretion of the treating surgeon

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Post-Operative Surgical Infection Complication	30 days	To evaluate that use of oral antibiotics (neomycin and flagyl), administered the day prior to elective colonic resection is associated with a significant reduction in postoperative (within 30 days) surgical infectious complications (superficial and deep space infections).

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Grade III-IV Postoperative Surgical Site Infectious Complication	30 days	To evaluate the effects of oral antibiotics on Grade III-IV (Clavien-Dindo classification) postoperative surgical site infectious complication (at 30 days).
Postoperative Infections Complications	30 days	To evaluate the effects of oral antibiotics on postoperative infections complications classified as deep SSI, superficial SSI or non-SSI infectious complications (i.e. urinary tract infection, pneumonia, at 30 days).
Overall Postoperative Complication Rate	30 days	To evaluate the effects of oral antibiotics on overall postoperative complication rate (at 30 days).
Postoperative Length of Stay	Number of days spent in hospital post-operatively, average of 6 days	To evaluate the effects of oral antibiotics on postoperative length of stay (LOS).
Incidence of Postoperative C. difficile Infections	90 days	To evaluate the effects of oral antibiotics on the incidence of postoperative C. difficile infections (at 90 days).
Incidence of Antibiotics Resistant Postoperative Infectious Complications	30 days	To evaluate the effects of oral antibiotics on the incidence of of antibiotics resistant postoperative infectious complications (at 30 days)
Patient Quality of Life	30 days	To evaluate the effects of oral antibiotics on patient quality of life by administering the SF-36 questionnaire, undertaken preoperatively and at 30 days postoperatively. The Short Form-36 (SF-36) is a 36-item, patient reported survey that is a measure of health status and commonly used in health economics. This SF-36 consists of eight scaled scores, which are the weighted sums of the questions in their section. Each scale is directly transformed into a 0-100 scale on the assumption that each question carries equal weight. A low score denounces a worse outcome compared to a higher score that denounces a better outcome. The eight sections are: vitality, physical functioning, bodily pain, general health perceptions, physical role functioning, emotional role functioning, social role functioning and mental health.
Direct Estimation of Health Utility Values	30 days	To evaluate the effects of oral antibiotics on patient quality of life by administering the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire, undertaken preoperatively and 30 days postoperatively. The EuroQol 5 Dimension 5 Level (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire consists of two sections; the EQ-5D-5L descriptive system and the EQ Visual Analogue scale. The descriptive system comprises 5 dimensions (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression). There are 5 levels associated with it; no problems, slight problems, moderate problems, severe problems and extreme problems. The scale range of 1-5 is used for the 5 dimensions in the descriptive system where 1 is the best outcome and 5 is the worst outcome. The Visual Analogue scale records the respondent's self-rated health on a vertical, visual scale with endpoints labelled 'the best health you can imagine' at the top and 'the worst health you can imagine' at the bottom. This ranges 0 being the worst outcome to 100 being the best outcome.
Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio	Through to study completion, an average of 2 years	To evaluate the effects of antibiotics on the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio

Countries

Canada

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORRebecca Auer, MD

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORSameer Apte, MD

The Ottawa Hospital

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jun 17, 2026