P P Tekkis

Dr P P Tekkis, St Mary’s Hospital, London, UK; p.tekkis@imperial.ac.uk

QUESTION

Does chewing gum after colectomy reduce time to return to normal bowel function and length of hospital stay after surgery?

REVIEW SCOPE

Studies selected compared use of chewing gum with no chewing gum in the early period after surgery in patients who had colectomy, reported ⩾1 outcome of interest, and clearly reported reasons for surgery and whether chewing gum was used. Trials were excluded if outcomes were not clearly reported for both groups, relevant data could not be extracted or calculated, or there was considerable overlap of authors, centres, or patient cohorts with other studies. Outcomes were return to normal bowel function (time to first flatus or bowel …