title: Evaluation of the routine use of the nasogastric tube in digestive operation by a prospective controlled study.
abstract: This prospective, randomized controlled trial was undertaken to evaluate the effect of tube decompression of the stomach after surgical procedure on the digestive tract. One hundred and nine patients were randomly allocated to postoperative treatment with (57 patients) or without (52 patients) nasogastric tubes. No significant differences were found between the two groups in the duration of hospitalization, time to begin peroral fluid intake, occurrence of hiccups, vomiting, nausea, parotiditis, nasal septum necrosis, anastomotic leak and wound dehiscence. Moreover, abdominal distension, pyrosis, otalgia, dysphagia, odynophagia and atelectasis occurred more often in intubated patients as shown by chi-square analysis of the data with Yates correction, with the level of significance at p = less than 0.05. Tube decompression of the stomach does not relieve intestinal paralysis after digestive operations. These data seem to indicate that the routine prophylactic use of a nasogastric tube is unnecessary in gastrointestinal operations.
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology, Nutrition and Digestive Surgery Unit, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Savassi-Rocha
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Conceicão
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Diniz
authors.forename: I C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Garavini
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Castro
mesh_terms: D004066:Digestive System Diseases / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007441:Intubation, Gastrointestinal; D007902:Length of Stay; D008150:Lower Body Negative Pressure / Q000379:methods*; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate