Evaluation of Early Oral Feeding and Traditional Oral Feeding in Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeries

Due to fears of postoperative complications following upper gastrointestinal surgeries (UGI), fasting before bowl function recovery is a traditional practice, but fasting following elective surgery is controversial. The aim of this study was to compare early oral feeding versus traditional oral feeding in patients who underwent UGI surgeries. Fifty two patients who underwent UGI anastomosis or surgery for various reasons were randomly divided into early oral feeding (EOF) group and traditional oral feeding (TOF) group. The nasogastric tube (NGT) removal time, tolerance of oral feeding, ileuses, nausea and vomiting, vital sign before and after surgery, postoperative stay, patients’ satisfaction and complications were recorded. The mean time of NGT removal was 1.62 ±0.49 and 4.61±1.99 days in EOF group and TOF group respectively (p=0.0005). The mean start time of oral feeding was 2.04 ± 0.19 and 5.87 ± 1.32 days in the EOF group and TOF group respectively (p=0.0005). Tolerance of oral feeding was seen in 24 (92.3%) patients and 21 (91.3%) patients in the EOF and TOF groups respectively. Duration of hospital stay following surgery was 5.62 days in the EOF group and 8.04 days in the TOF group. 24(92.3%) out of 26 patients in the EOF group were satisfied with oral feeding that started in the second postoperative day. 13 patients (56.5%) complained of delay feeding in the TOF group. The results of the present study suggest that early oral feeding following upper gastrointestinal anastomosis or surgery is safe and can result in a shorter hospital stay and less cost.