Administration of various drugs to achieve
mechanical cleansing of the large bowel
and to reduce the bacterial load contained
within is known as bowel preparation.
Clearing the bowel is normally done before
any surgery which is to be done under general
or regional anaesthesia since the relaxed
sphincters would otherwise cause soiling and
contamination on table. It is also done prior
to radiological investigations such as barium
enema and endoscopic procedures done on the
colon both diagnostic as well as therapeutic.
Anorectal surgeries such as piles, fissures and
fistulae also requires clearing of the
anorectum so as to achieve a clean operative
field.