Gum Chewing Reduces the Risk of Postoperative Ileus After Arthroplasty Procedures in The Elderly Population

Summary

Postoperative ileus (POI) is defined as a temporary cessation of bowel movement after a surgical procedure. Surgical procedures not only include abdominal or colorectal procedures but non-abdominal procedures as well. Cessation of bowel movement not only leads to disturbing constipation but also may lead to nausea, loss of appetite, and food intolerance. These patients tend to have more pain scores and dissatisfaction with the surgical management and team. The mechanism behind this condition is caused by a decrease in vagal parasympathetic stimulation. To break/prevent this mechanism, here comes the "sham feeding" (gum-chewing) effect where an increase in chewing and saliva enhances the gastric emptying and overall motility of gut as a cephalic phase of digestion even in non-gastro or colorectal surgeries. This effect is studied thoroughly in gastric, colorectal, and gynecological procedures. There is scarcity about its effect following orthopedic procedures specifically hip arthroplasty. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of adding gum-chewing to the conventional postoperative feeding regimen on restoring postoperative bowel function and length of stay in hospital of patients undergoing elective hip arthroplasty.

Interventions:

Behavioral intervention (Chewing gum) will be started the morning after surgery when the patient is fully awake and allowed to start taking an oral diet (which usually starts within 6-10 hours after surgery). In addition to the conventional postoperative feeding schedule, the patient will be given the gum to chew for at least 15 minutes each time, 3 times/day before the usual time of the meal, until the first flatus. The control group will have a conventional feeding schedule without chewing gum being added to their meals.

Hypothesis:

The investigators hypothesize that there is an association between gum chewing and the relief from postoperative ileus in hip arthroplasty patients.

Study Design:

Single-center, open-label, parallel design, superiority randomized-controlled trial with 2 treatment arms. The primary outcome will be the time interval in hours from the end of surgery until the passage of flatus, which is reported subjectively by the patient. The secondary outcome will be the time interval in hours from the end of surgery until the passage of stool. The other secondary outcome will be the postoperative hospital stay in days (surgery to discharge).

Conditions

• Paralytic Ileus

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Chewing Gum

The intervention would be chewing gum. The patients in the intervention arm would be asked to chew gum for 15 minutes before meals thrice a day.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Aga Khan University

  collaborator OTHER

• Indus Hospital and Health Network

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Obada Hassan, MSc. Epibio · Aga Khan University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

50 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-09-30

Primary Completion

2021-06-30

Completion

2021-09-30