Comparison of Early Oral Feeding and Conventional Oral Feeding in Cases of Elective Intestinal Stoma Reversal in Terms of Number of Days of Nasogastric Decompression and Hospital Stay

Abstract

Objective: To compare the efficacy of early oral feeding and conventional oral feeding in elective intestinal stoma reversal in terms of mean number of days of NG tube out and hospital stay. Study Design: Randomized Controlled Trials. Settings: Surgical Units of Allied/DHQ hospitals Faisalabad. Duration of Study:  1 year duration from February 2014 to January 2015. Sampling Technique: Non-probability consecutive sampling. Methodology:60 patients were selected from OPD. Patients were randomly allocated to two groups. All stomas were closed in single layer extramucosal seromuscular fashion, intraperitonealy. In post-operative period, patients in group I were allowed oral feed in early post-operative period (6-8 hours) after the surgery. Initially, oral liquids (30ml/hr) was given and patients were observed for nausea and vomiting. Oral feed was increased gradually with the response of the patient with semi-solid to solid diet on 1^st or 2^nd post-operative day. Patients in group II were started oral sips of liquids once they pass flatus or audible bowel sounds. At least two follow up visits were advised within two weeks of discharge of patients, 1^st on the 7^th day and 2^nd on the 14^th day, for removal of skin stitches. Results: Out of 60 patients 37 (61.7%) were males and 23 (38.3%) were females. Among the variables under the study, for both groups, the minimum total number of days of nasogastric decompression was 0 days and maximum total number of days of nasogastric decompression was 5 days with mean of 1.17 days and standard deviation of 1.33. In group 1, the mean of the total number of days of nasogastric decompression was 0.13±0.35 days and in group 2, the mean of the total number of days of nasogastric decompression was 2.20±1.13 days with p-value of 0.0001 for both the groups, the minimum total number of days of hospital stay was 3 days and the maximum was 9 days, with mean of 4.82 days and Std. Deviation of 1.70 days. In group 1, the mean of the total number of days of hospital stay was 3.37±0.61 days and in group 2 the mean of the total number of days of hospital stay was 6.27±1.08 days with p-value of 0.000. Conclusion: Early oral feeding in cases of elective intestinal stoma reversal is better than conventional oral feeding in terms of number of days of nasogastric decompression and hospital stay.