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. 2023 Jan 17:12:1059924.
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.1059924. eCollection 2022.

The impact of gum-chewing on postoperative ileus following gynecological cancer surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Ya-Nan Yin  1   2   3 , Hong Xie  1   2   3 , Jian-Hua Ren  1   2   3 , Ni-Jie Jiang  1   2   3 , Li Dai  1   3   4
Affiliations

The impact of gum-chewing on postoperative ileus following gynecological cancer surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Ya-Nan Yin et al. Front Oncol. .

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effect and safety of gum-chewing on the prevention of postoperative ileus after gynecological cancer surgery.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2000 and 2022 in English and Chinese, using the EBSCO, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Cochrane database), PubMed, Medline (via Ovid), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database, and Wan Fang databases. A total of 837 studies were screened using Endnote software, and those that met the inclusion criteria were selected for analysis. The main outcome of interest was the incidence of postoperative ileus, and secondary outcomes included time to first flatus, time to first bowel movement, and length of hospital stay.

Results: Two authors extracted data and performed quality assessment independently. The review included six RCTs with a total of 669 patients. Compared with routine care, gum-chewing could significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative ileus (RR 0.46, 95% CI: 0.30, 0.72, P=0.0006), shorten the time to first flatus (WMD -9.58, 95% CI: -15.04, -4.12, P=0.0006), first bowel movement (WMD -11.31, 95% CI: -21.05, -1.56, P=0.02), and the length of hospital stay (WMD -1.53, 95% CI: -2.08, -0.98, P<0.00001).

Conclusions: Gum-chewing is associated with early recovery of gastrointestinal function after gynecological cancer surgery and may be an effective and harmless intervention to prevent postoperative ileus.

Systemaic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/#searchadvanced, identifier CRD42022384346.

Keywords: gastrointestinal function; gum-chewing; gynecological cancer surgery; meta-analysis; review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The flowchart of search result.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Methodological quality and risk of included trials.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Forest plot for the incidence of postoperative ileus. (B) Forest plot for the time to first flatus. (C) Forest plot for the time to first bowel movement. (D) Forest plot for the length of hospitalization. (E) Sensitivity analysis in studies assessing the impact of gum chewing. (F) Forest plot for the subgroup analysis.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Begg’s funnel plot for the incidence of postoperative ileus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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