Ainul Hadi, Zafar Iqbal, Musarrat Hussain.
Postoperative Outcome of Early Oral Feeding Following Elective Colonic Anastomosis.
J Surg Pak Jan ;19(3):96-9.

Objective: To assess the safety of early oral feeding after colonic anastomosis. Study design: Descriptive case series. Place & Duration of study: Department of Surgrey Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, from September 2009 to April 2011. Methodology: Preoperative evaluation included history, physical examination and base line investigations. A limited bowel preparation was done in all the patients. Postoperatively 10-60 ml of sips were allowed 3 hourly after recovery from anesthesia. Free oral fluid intake was allowed on postoperative day-1, semisolids on day-2 and 3 as tolerated and full oral diet allowed on day-4. In case of two episodes of vomiting and absence of bowel sounds, patients were kept nil by mouth and nasogastric tube was placed. Results: Out of total 101 patients, 77 (76.24%) were males and 24 (13.76%) females (M:F 3.2:1). The age range was from 25 year to 77 year with mean age of 49.5+2.3 year. The time of passge of first flatus was 2 to 6 days (mean 2.4 days), and the time of first passage of stool was 4-9 days (mean 4.6 days). Twenty two (21.78%) patients did not tolerate feeding. They developed vomiting and abdominal distension. Postoperative complications included wound infection (7.92%), electrolyte imbalance (4.95%), respiratory tract infection and aspiration pneumonia (5.94%), anastomotic leaks (0.99%) and wound dehiscence (1.98%). The hospital stay was 3-8 days (mean 5.4 days). Conclusion: Early oral feeding after colonic surgery was safe and well tolerated by majority of the patients.

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