377. EARLY POSTOPERATIVE ORAL FEEDING IS SAFE FOLLOWING MAJOR UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL SURGERY (PROPENSITY SCORE MATCHING STUDY)

Background

The traditional feeding method, which started 5–7 days after upper gastrointestinal (UGI) tumor resections is the widely accepted method worldwide. ERAS protocol is becoming more and more common, but there is still not enough evidence that early postoperative oral feeding is safe following major UGI surgery.

Patients and Methods: A propensity score matching study was conducted at the University of Pecs, Department of Surgery, Hungary between January 2020 and July 2022. The study included patients with UGI tumor resections where our early oral feeding (EOF) protocol were applied. Data were collected retrospectively and the EOF- group was compared with a control group, who have been cared for the traditional feeding method during this period.

Results

the study included 50 patients, 25 in the early oral feeding group, and 25 case-matched patients in the traditional oral feeding group. The start of the oral feeding was on day 2.09 in the EOF, and on day 5.52 in the LOF group. Statistically significant decreases were observed in the EOF group in the postoperative length of stay (8.875 days vs 12.06 days), first bowel movement, and length of postoperative intravenous fluid therapy. There were no significant differences in mortality, anastomosis insufficiency, anastomosis inflammation and stricture.

Conclusions

Our results confirmed, that in the EOF group the mortality and anastomosis leakages do not increase compared to the traditional feeding protocol. However EOF decreased the length of hospital stay resulted earlier recovery, and the quality of life was improved by starting early oral feeding.