ABSTRACT
On-table ‘wash out’ or lavage may be used by some surgeons. This usually involves making a small incision in the bowel wall and inserting a long Foley catheter or similar device through a caecostomy or appendicostomy, often distal to a soft clamp. Infusion of warm saline with or without gentamicin can be used. Either the fluid is allowed to drain out through the anus or, more commonly, the bowel is divided and fluid escapes distally under controlled conditions (often through a large-bore effluent tube inserted into the bowel) with sterile saline-soaked gauze covering as much of the operative field and wound edges as possible.
