Early oral intake after intra-abdominal gynecological oncology surgery

Abstract

To explore and evaluate the safety and efficacy of early oral intake following major abdominal gynecological oncology surgery. During an 11-month period, 60 gynecological oncology patients undergoing major intra-abdominal surgery were enrolled in a randomized controlled clinical trial of semiliquid diet (experimental group) compared with clear feeds (control group) 6 hours after operation. Patients were evaluated for nausea, vomiting, bowel sound, passage of flatus, body weight difference before and after operation, urine acetone, fasting blood sugar, and prealbumin level, and need for nasogastric tube decompression. There were significantly higher incidences of nausea, shorter time of regular diet resumption, and higher level of prealbumin on postoperative day 7 in patients from the experimental group than those from the control group (P < .05). No significant differences were found in vomiting, the time to development of bowel sound and passage of flatus, body weight difference before and after operation, urine acetone and fasting blood sugar on postoperative day 1, and prealbumin level on postoperative day 2 between the 2 groups. Early oral intake with semiliquid diet 6 hours after major intra-abdominal gynecological oncology surgery is safe and well tolerated.