Chewing Gum Fastens Post-surgery Recovery

Eating chewing gum after heart surgery reduces digestive problems and it potentially speeds up patients’ recovery time, finds a study presented at the Critical Care Conference by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The study says that the use of chewing gum in cardiac surgery patients accelerates the return of gut function. This is an easy intervention and can be used on all patients in the postoperative setting.

The study was conducted on 341 patients who underwent cardiac surgeries like aortic valve replacements, open heart surgery and mitral valve replacements from 2017 to 2020. These patients took part in the sugarless chewing gum protocol. A second group consisted of 496 patients who received similar heart surgeries between 2013 and 2016 but did not chew gum after their procedures.

The results showed that
●Only two of the gum-chewing patients (0.5%) had confirmed postoperative ileus
●17 patients in the no-gum chewing group (3.43%) developed postoperative ileus.

Postoperative Ileus
The obstruction and intolerance of oral intake due to the disruption of normal activity of the intestine by nonmechanical factors is known as postoperative ileus.

Ieus is not a major health concern but may lead to abdominal cramps, bloating, nausea, vomiting, constipation, and difficulty in tolerating a normal diet. Many patients experience discomfort, slow recovery and longer stay in hospitals which in turn lead to increase in physical, emotional and financial burden among patients.

According to Rakesh C. Arora, at St. Boniface Hospital “The notion that something as simple as chewing gum after heart surgery could minimize this problem is highly appealing. In hundreds of patients undergoing cardiac surgery who were given one piece of gum to chew after recovering off the ventilator, fewer than 1 in 100 patients developed an ileus. This was a striking nearly 5-fold reduction compared to the historical average. This anticipated study will be highly discussed with much to chew on!”

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The chewing gum stimulates the intestine by tricking them that food is coming; this is known as “sham feeding”. This is a procedure that mimics normal food consumption but where the food and drink are not actually digested or absorbed.

According to the scientists the chewing of gum is an effective and inexpensive method that helps the feeling of patients post-surgery. When the patients feel better, they recover and get discharged faster.

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“Given the minimal risk and extremely trivial cost of this intervention, the incorporation of chewing gum following cardiac surgery should be strongly considered as a new standard of care,” says Dr. Seng.

Source-Medindia