Intended for healthcare professionals

Letters Managing perioperative risk

Selective decontamination of the digestive tract may reduce perioperative risk in elective surgery

BMJ 2011; 343 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d7536 (Published 22 November 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;343:d7536
  1. Andy Petros, consultant intensivist1,
  2. Daphne Roos, consultant surgeon2,
  3. Hendrick van Saene, reader in microbiology3,
  4. Nia Taylor, research assistant3,
  5. Hans Rommes, consultant intensivist4,
  6. Luciano Silvestri, consultant intensivist5
  1. 1Great Ormond Street Hospital, London WC1N 3JH, UK
  2. 2OLVG, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  3. 3University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
  4. 4Gelre Hospitals, Apeldoor, Netherlands
  5. 5Gorizia Hospital, Italy
  1. andy.petros{at}gosh.nhs.uk

Pearse and colleagues review numerous medical interventions for their potential in reducing perioperative morbidity and mortality, all of which they admit lack serious evidence base.1 Surprisingly, they did not review selective decontamination of the digestive tract, an effective …

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