Postoperative ileus: A study on the role of chewing gum to reduce its duration

Abstract

Background: Post operative ileus (POI) is the transient absence of gut motility without any mechanical obstruction, commonly occuring after abdominal surgery. It is reported to occur in 25% patients. Although it may resolve spontaneously with two-three days there have been many studies which have evaluated the role of early feeding in recovery from postoperative ileus. The study was conducted to evaluate the role of chewing gum for early recovery of postoperative ileus. Materials and Methods: This prospective comparative study was conducted from March, 2017 to September, 2017 on patients who underwent exploratory laparotomy and any kind of intestinal anastomosis either during emergency or elective surgeries. The patients were divided into 2 groups each group having 25 patients. Patients in study group (n=25) were asked to chew one stick of chewing gum for 30 min four times a day until passing flatus while the control group (n=25) patients were kept nil per orally until the passage of flatus. A probability value of less than 5% (P < 0.05) was considered significant. The Chi-square test was used to check for differences between proportions. Results: Total male patients were 33 and 17 were female. There was no significant difference in the appearance of bowel sounds, mean time of passage of flatus, stool passage and feeling of hunger between study and control group. In all these variables the mean time was shorter in study group. The patients were discharged early in study group with a statistically significant difference. Conclusion: Based on the results it can be concluded that the chewing gum does not seem to be significant to reduce the duration of post operative ileus. Although it was seen that the duration of overall recovery of bowel movements in form of appearance of bowel sound, passing flatus and motion and feeling of hunger, occurred early in patients chewing gum but was not significant statistically.