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. 2012 Mar;82(3):149-55.
doi: 10.4174/jkss.2012.82.3.149. Epub 2012 Feb 27.

The effect of erythromycin on gastrointestinal motility in subtotal gastrectomized patients

A-Lan Lee  1 , Choong-Bai Kim
Affiliations

The effect of erythromycin on gastrointestinal motility in subtotal gastrectomized patients

A-Lan Lee et al. J Korean Surg Soc. 2012 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose: Our objective was to determine the effect of erythromycin (EM) in improving gastrointestinal motility in subtotal gastrectomized patients. We used radio-opaque Kolomarks as an objective method. We conducted a prospective, controlled clinical trial study of 24 patients.

Methods: All patients underwent subtotal gastrectomy with 3 capsules containing Kolomarks (20 markers per 1 capsule) in the remnant stomach before anastomosis. From the day of the operation to the 2nd postoperative day, patients in the EM group began receiving 200 mg of EM intravenously for 30 minutes continuously. We counted the number of Kolomarks in the stomach, passed by stomach, in rectum, and in stool with serial simple abdominal X-ray films on the first postoperative day up to the 7th postoperative day.

Results: The study population included 14 patients in the control group and 10 patients in the EM group. The two study groups were compared in terms of their characteristics including age, gender, past medical history, cancer stage, and operation type. No significant differences were found for the demographics between the two groups. We only found a significant difference for the number of Kolomarks passed by the stomach on the 3rd postoperative day (P = 0.026).

Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that 200 mg of EM intravenous infusion during the postoperative period induced rapid gastric emptying, although it did not improve gastrointestinal motility for the entire gastrointestinal tract in subtotal gastrectomized patients.

Keywords: Erythromycin; Gastrointestinal motility; Kolomark; Postoperative ileus.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Abdominal X-ray film in erythromycin group on 1st postoperative day. There are 57 Kolomarks in stomach.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Abdominal X-ray film in erythromycin group on 3rd postoperative day. All Kolomarks were passed by stomach.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Abdominal X-ray film in erythromycin group on 5th postoperative day. Picture shows that most Kolomarks in the gastrointestinal tract remained except 4.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Abdominal X-ray film in erythromycin group on 7th postoperative day. Twenty Kolomarks are remained in gastrointestinal tract.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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