| Patients who have abdominal surgery often suffer a slow down or shut down of the bowels called ileus that causes pain, vomiting and abdominal swelling ,and they may not be able to tolerate food or even water, the report published in archives of surgery said. |
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| Chewing gum after intestinal surgery can help reactivate paralysed bowels and get patients out of the hospital sooner, a study said on Monday. Patients who have abdominal surgery often suffer a slow down or shut down of the bowels called ileus that causes pain, vomiting and abdominal swelling ,and they may not be able to tolerate food or even water, the report published in archives of surgery said. Study participants had no problems chewing sugarless gum three times a day. Chewing stimulates nerves that promote the release of hormones responsible for activating gastrointestinal system, wrote study author Rob Schuster of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California. Seventeen of 34 patients who chewed gum after surgery passed gas sooner than the half who did not chew, and they had their first bowel movements 63 hours after surgery. |
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| Posted on : 24/2/2006 |
