1018 cal group, and the supervision of tablets and their issue, was performed by the hospital pharmacist. All patients received the same mechanical preparation and all received subcutaneous heparin as prophylaxis against venous thromboembolism. The presence or absence of postoperative sepsis was recorded. Trivial wound erythema and stitch abscesses without systemic disturbance, were disregarded. Subsequent analysis showed that the surgical groups were well matched for age, sex, drug groups, and underlying disease (there were 62 cases of malignancy, 3 of diverticular disease, 1 of familial polyposis coli, and 1 of intusussception secondary to leiomyoma).

RESULTS* I

i

I

I

i

i

*No.

infections/no. cases. MK reduced the incidence of sepsis

significantly compared

with PP (Fisher’s exact test p