COMPARISON OF FREQUENCY OF ANASTOMOTIC LEAK IN EARLY VERSUS DELAYED ORAL FEEDING AFTER ELECTIVE

ABSTRACT
Background: Colostomy is an artificial opening made in the large gut to divert faeces and flatus to the exterior
OBJECTIVE: To compare the frequency of anastomotic leak in early versus delayed oral feeding after elective colostomy
closure.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: This randomized controlled study was conducted in Surgical department Hayatabad Medical
Complex Peshawar from June 2012 to June 2014 after taking permission from local ethical and research committee.
RESULTS: A total of 298 patients of colostomy closure were observed, which were divided in two equal groups. Overall
male to female ratio was 1.21:1. The overall average age of the patients was 39.33 years +13.52SD. Anastomotic
leak wise distribution shows that early oral feeding have anastomotic leak in 8(5.4%) patients while in late oral feeding
group anastomotic leak was observed in 20(13.4%) patients which showed that anastomotic leak was low in early oral
feeding group than late oral feeding group (p-value=0.017).
CONCLUSION: Early oral feeding is as safe as late oral feeding after elective colostomy closure in terms of postoperative
leak.
KEY WORDS: Early feeding, Safety, Late feeding, colostomy, Anastomotic leak