The Outcome of Early Oral Feeding Following Elective Gastrointestinal Surgery.

Background Early oral feeding (EOF) after gastrointestinal (GI) surgery is an optimistic way to speed up recovery and shorten hospital stays, but its full effects remain unexplored. Aim This study aims to evaluate the outcomes of EOF in patients having elective gastrointestinal surgery. Methods This open-level, prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted in the Department of Surgery at Sir Salimullah Medical College Mitford Hospital, Dhaka, from March 2022 to February 2023. A total of 50 patients were enrolled and divided into two groups: early oral feeding (EOF) and traditional postoperative oral feeding (TOF), both before and after 48 hours of surgery, using a systematic random sampling technique. Informed written consent was taken from the patients. The patients were monitored on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, and 28 following surgeries. Postoperative complications, the duration for nasogastric tube (NGT) removal (days), the early recovery of bowel motility, and the length of the hospital stay (days) were noted. Results In this study, both EOF and TOF groups were found indifferent in terms of age distribution, gender ratio, or body mass index (BMI). However, significant differences emerged in postoperative outcomes. The TOF group experienced a significantly longer duration for nasogastric tube (NGT) removal and the initiation of oral feeding compared to the EOF group (P-value < 0.001). Complication rates, including nausea, vomiting, ileus, anastomotic leakage, wound infection, and pneumonia, did not exhibit statistically significant differences between the groups (P-value > 0.05). Moreover, the EOF group demonstrated an early recovery of bowel motility after surgery and shorter hospital stays compared to the TOF group (P-value < 0.05). Conclusion Starting oral feeding earlier does not increase complications. However, it does speed up recovery and shorten hospital stays.