Evaluation of the effect of nasogastric intubation on gastrointestinal function after gastrectomy in gastric cancer patients

Background: The optimal treatment strategy for patients with gastric cancer is gastrectomy. Typically, nasogastric intubation is used after this type of surgery to feed patients; however, there seems to be no unanimity of opinion on this topic. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of nasogastric intubation on gastrointestinal function after gastrectomy in gastric cancer patients.

Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on gastric cancer patients, admitted to the general surgery department of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad, Iran in 2015. In total, 68 patients were selected through convenience and randomized sampling and divided into two intervention and control groups of 34 individuals. Nasogastric tube insertion was applied for the intervention group after the surgery. Patients of the study groups were fasted for three days after the surgery, which was followed by the removal of nasogastric tubes and initiation of oral feeding. Gastrointestinal function of all the participants was evaluated six hours after transferring to the ward up to seven days after the surgery on a daily basis using nausea and vomiting assessment tools and researcher-made questionnaire of gastrointestinal function. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 16 using Fisher’s exact test, Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, repeated measures ANOVA and paired t-test.

Results: In this study, the severity of nausea and vomiting, the first time of passing gas and severity of flatulence Intensity were less observed in the control group, compared to the intervention group. Moreover, postoperative diet tolerance was higher in the patients of the control group, compared to the other study group (P<0.05).

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, nasogastric intubation can delay normal gastrointestinal function after gastrectomy. Therefore, it is not recommended to use this method after gastrectomy.