Summary

The intestines close down for a while after colon surgery, causing pain and discomfort. A review of clinical studies suggests that chewing gum might help relieve the problem. Those who chewed gum after their operation returned to normal bowel function faster than those who did not.

Introduction

In England alone, there are more than 31,000 colorectal surgeries every year and, typically, the hospital stay would be 13 to 26 days, which represents a significant burden on the health service. So there's a case for looking at ways of speeding up the patient's recovery after colectomy and related surgeries. The problem is that the bowel closes down and a condition called postoperative ileus - inability of the intestines to pass its contents - results. It is linked with bloating, pain, nausea and vomiting and prolongs the patients stay in hospital.

Various remedies have been tried for postoperative ileus, all of them rather costly. In fact, there might be a simple and cost-effective solution - chewing gum. There have been a few small studies that suggest that chewing gum does indeed speed recovery from postoperative ileus, but more firm evidence is needed.

What was done

A team at St Mary's Hospital, London, reviewed five trials involving 158 patients having colectomy. In each trial, some patients chewed sugarless gum three times a day following surgery for a time ranging from five to 45 minutes. The time taken to pass wind and the time to the first bowel movement was noted.

What was found

Patients chewing gum has quicker restoration of normal bowel function following colectomy. They passed gas about two thirds of a day sooner and had their first bowel movement about a day sooner. The data on reduced post-operative stay was less clear - although it was reduced by one day in the chewing gum group, the researchers say this was not significant.

What this study means

The body may interpret gum chewing as feeding and set the intestines moving accordingly, restoring function quicker. Now we need a large trial to work out whether chewing gum can reduce the length of hospital stay after colectomy.