Bowel Function After Minimally Invasive Hysterectomy

August 15, 2025 updated by: University of Chicago

Bowel Function After Minimally Invasive Hysterectomy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Postoperative constipation affects up to a third of women undergoing minimally invasive (MIS) gynecologic surgery and is a major source of anxiety and discomfort. The average time to first bowel movement after gynecologic surgery is about 2 to 4 days and some factors responsible for this include anesthesia inhibitory effect on gastrointestinal motility, opioid pain medication use, chronic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) use and anatomic manipulation.

There are no established regimens to manage postoperative constipation after minimally invasive gynecologic surgery. Two studies evaluating the implementation of postoperative bowel regimen with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and with Senna and Docusate found no significant impact on postoperative bowel function. There have been no studies looking at the effect of preoperative bowel regimens on postoperative bowel function.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate postoperative bowel function after minimally invasive hysterectomy in women receiving a preoperative 10-day bowel regimen of PEG daily.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Following enrollment subjects will be randomized into the intervention/treatment arm and control arm. All subjects will be asked to complete a baseline demographic form and three questionnaires (Patient Assessment of Constipation Symptoms (PAC-SYM), Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (PAC- QOL), Wexner Constipation score). Additional demographic information will be obtained from chart review. This information will include past medical history, use of constipating medications, use of daily pain medications, chronic pain history, use of daily fiber supplementation.

Subjects in the intervention arm will be given 10-day supply of Miralax and instructed on its use. They will take this medication for the 10 days prior to surgery. Subjects in the control arm will continue with standard care prior to surgery.

Post operatively, all subjects will complete a diary for 7 days. In this diary they will record details about their bowel movements (time of movement, discomfort, texture of stool). They will also report average daily pain levels ( with a visual analog scale), daily pain medication use (time, medication, total number of pills).

At the end of the 7th day all subjects will complete the same PAC questionnaires as they did pre-operatively.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

97

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60637
        • University of Chicago Medicine

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

14 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Any woman ≥ 18 years of age undergoing a minimally invasive hysterectomy (Laparoscopic, robotic, vaginal)
  • Able to understand the consenting process and willing to participate in study

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Planned laparotomy
  • Emergent surgery
  • Regular preoperative use of PEG 3350, laxatives, enemas or suppositories
  • Planned bowel surgery
  • Presence of colostomy
  • Inability to consent
  • Medical problems as follows:
  • Chronic Kidney Disease (Cr: > 1.2 mg/dL)
  • Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus
  • Cardiac disease
  • Gastric ulcers
  • Difficulty swallowing or esophageal stricture
  • Persistent nausea or vomiting
  • Signs or symptoms of a small bowel obstruction

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Participants receiving pre-operative laxative
Participants will receive 10 doses, 17g each, of polyethylene glycol 3350. They will be instructed to take 1 dose/packet each day for 10 days leading up to their surgery.
Drug: Polyethylene Glycol 3350
Participants will take 1 17g pack per day for 10 days preceding surgery.
Other Names:
  • Miralax
No Intervention: Participants not receiving pre-operative laxative
Participants will not be given any laxatives.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Patient Assessment of Constipation Symptoms Questionnaire (PAC-SYM) Score
Time Frame: change in score from 10 days pre-operation to 7 days post-operation
Constipation will be evaluated both preoperatively and postoperatively using a validated questionnaires (PAC-SYM/PAC-QOL). Patient assessment of constipation symptoms (PAC-SYM) - The Patient Assessment of Constipation-Symptoms (PAC-SYM) questionnaire, developed through psychometric evaluation of adults with chronic constipation, is a tool for assessing the severity of patient-reported symptoms of this disorder. The 12-item questionnaire is divided into three symptom subscales: abdominal (four items); rectal (three items); and stool (five items). Items are scored on 5-point Likert scales, with scores ranging from 0 to 4 (0 = 'symptom absent', 1 = 'mild', 2 = 'moderate', 3 = 'severe' and 4 = 'very severe'). A mean total score in the range of 0-4 is generated by dividing the total score by the number of questions completed; the lower the total score, the lower the symptom burden.
change in score from 10 days pre-operation to 7 days post-operation
Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAC-QOL) Score
Time Frame: change in score from 10 days pre-operation to 7 days post-operation
Patient assessment of constipation quality of life (PAC-QOL) - PAC-Qol is a self-reported questionnaire, was used to measure the quality of life of patients.9 The validated PAC-QoL is composed of 28 items grouped into four subscales: physical discomfort, psychosocial discomfort, worries and concerns, and satisfaction. The first three subscales are used to assess the patient dissatisfaction index, with an overall score ranging from 0 to 96 (where lower scores correspond to better quality of life). The satisfaction subscale includes four items with a global score ranging from 0 to 16, so that each patient's self-reported definitive outcome is defined as either poor (0-4), fairly good (5-8), good (9-12), or excellent (13-16).
change in score from 10 days pre-operation to 7 days post-operation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Visual Analog Scale for Pain Management
Time Frame: The 7 days after surgery (surgery is D0)
Visual analog scale - The visual analog scale (VAS) is a measure of subjective pain intensity. It is a continuous scale comprised of a horizontal visual analog scale that is 100 mm in length. The subject will place a mark on the scale to indicate the intensity of her pain. 0 mm would be no pain, 100 mm would be the greatest imaginable pain. Any mark in between will be measured in mm to indicate degree of pain the subject is experiencing.
The 7 days after surgery (surgery is D0)
Pain Medication Consumption Tracking by Participant
Time Frame: The 7 days after surgery (surgery is D0)
Dosages of pain medication consumption will be collected for up to 7 days post-surgery.
The 7 days after surgery (surgery is D0)
Wexner/ Constipation Scoring System/1996 Cleveland Clinic Score / Agachan Score
Time Frame: 7 days before surgery
Wexner a commonly used scoring system, is designed to assess the prevalence and severity of constipation. It is based on pathophysiological definition of constipation. The scoring system is based on eight variables (frequency of bowel movements; difficult or painful evacuation; completeness of evacuation; abdominal pain; time per attempt; type of assistance including laxatives; digitations or enemas; number of unsuccessful attempts at evacuation in a 24-h period and duration of constipation). The CSS consists of seven items that are scored using a five-point Likert scale that ranges from 0 (none of the time) to 4 (all of the time) and one item that is rated on a 0-2 scale. A total score can range from 0 (normal) to 30 (severe constipation). A cutoff score of 15 suggests constipation.
7 days before surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Chicago

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Diane Glass, MD, PhD, University of Chicago

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 28, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 30, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

June 9, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 29, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 7, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

February 11, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 19, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 15, 2025

Last Verified

June 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB19-0436

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

Yes

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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