Dear Laparoscopic Surgeons: Caution with the Use of Glutaraldehyde

The occupational hazards of glutaraldehyde are well known; the possibility of harm to the patients has been highlighted in the form of isolated reports only. To synthesize evidence for contact mucosal injury or injury due to intraperitoneal instillation of glutaraldehyde following its use during laparoendoscopy. The current review is Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) compliant. PubMed, PubMed Central, and Google Scholar were interrogated for animal and human studies upon the harmful effects of glutaraldehyde during laparoscopy and proctosigmoido-colonoscopy. Thirty-five studies substratified into animal experiments ( = 2), glutaraldehyde-induced colitis (G-iC) postendoscopy ( = 30), and laparoscopy ( = 3) were included. Rats suffered mucosal injury following colonic injection of glutaraldehyde which was time- and concentration-dependent quantum and developed bloody diarrhoea. Omental and renal injury was observed due to glutaraldehyde instillation during simulation of intra-peritoneal insufflation in rats; the serum leucocytes, CRP and creatinine were also elevated. G-iC following colonoscopy was related to contact mucosal injury due to failure (human or machinery) to rinse the chemical off the instrument surface or as a case of mistaken identity (glutaraldehyde was mistaken for saline or another reagent). The incubation period was