EARLY ENTERAL FEEDING VERSUS FEEDING AFTER PASSAGE OF FLATUS AFTER ABDOMINAL OPERATION”

Abstract

BACKGROUND:Aperiod of nil per oral is a common practice after most abdominal surgeries because of postoperative ileus. But the ileus predominantly affects the stomach and colon. However, the small bowel recovers from the ileus within 4-6 hours after laparotomy. Postoperative period of ileus correlates well with patient's age, BMI and small bowel surgery and magnitude of surgery. Many patients come with diseases with vomiting and poor appetite leading to a state of malnutrition which is a common nding in preoperative patients requiring abdominal surgeries. It is well documented that length of hospital stay is prolonged in poorly nourished surgical patients. Keeping the patient nil per oral aggravates the malnutrition further in a state where the need of calorie is more with postoperative stress. The early postoperative feeding is established to be safe and well tolerated. Most of the early enteral feeding study concentrates on a single surgery. Hence, it is decided to include all the abdominal procedures including elective and emergency, open and minimal invasive, benign and malignant to have an overall view of efcacy of early enteral feeding in these patients.