Influence of adjuvant antibiotics on fistula formation following incision and drainage of anorectal abscesses: a systematic review protocol

The objective of this review is to summarize the available evidence on the role of antibiotics following I&D of anorectal abscesses on fistula formation. Secondary objectives include determining if antibiotics are associated with morbidity, repeat presentation to the emergency department, and requirement for reoperation.Methods/designMEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Registry of Controlled Trials,http://apps.who.int/trialsearch, andclinicaltrials.gov will be searched to identify published and ongoing unpublished interventional and observational studies evaluating the role of antibiotics post I&D on the incidence of fistula formation. There will be no restriction on language, date, or journal. Title and abstracts as well as full texts will be screened in duplicate based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool and ROBINS-I will be used to assess risk of bias in randomized and non-randomized studies, respectively. Our primary outcome is the incidence of fistula formation; secondary outcomes include morbidity, representation to ED, and reoperation. Study heterogeneity will be calculated with Cochran ’sQ test,P value, andI2 index. SASS (version 9.4) will be used for meta-analysis.DiscussionThis is the first study to review the available evidence on adjuvant antibiotics and incidence of fistula formation following I&D of anorectal abscesses.Systematic review registrationPROSPEROCRD42018092044
Source: Systematic Reviews - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research