Gum chewing and the return of bowel motility after caesarean section under regional anaesthesia

Post-operative gum chewing and the return of bowel motility after elective caesarean section under regional anaesthesia: a prospective randomised controlled trial

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN83008008

Enrollment

Registered

2010-02-18

Start date

2010-02-15

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2015-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Bowel motility Digestive System Bowel motility

Interventions

Following CS, patients will be randomised to two groups: Group 1: 24 patients will receive one stick of sugarless non-sweetened gum (Samarah Foods, Cairo, Egypt) for 15 minutes every two hours after s

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

Female

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Females aged 16 - 45 years 2. Set for planned elective caesarean section under regional anaesthesia 3. Written and signed informed consent by the patient to participate in the study

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Operation not to be done in the morning session 2. Patients with extensive lysis of adhesions of the bowel during CS 3. Patients undergoing caesarean hysterectomy or other extensive intra-abdominal surgery as a result of operative complication 4. Patients with severe post-operative haemorrhage or other post-operative complications requiring emergency interventions

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
With the time of end of surgery designated as zero hour, efficacy of gum chewing will be assessed based on shortened time interval to first hearing of normal intestinal sounds, to the first passage of flatus, to the first bowel movement, and to the discharge from the hospital.	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Recording of post-operative tolerance of gum chewing and post-operative complications, including febrile morbidity (temperature greater than 38ºC on two occasions 6 hours apart), re-operation, blood transfusion, post-operative ileus, and hospital readmission 2. Occurrence of mild ileus symptoms (vomiting or abdominal distension felt by the patient and seen on examination) or post-operative paralytic ileus, defined as a group of manifestations persisting longer than 24 hours or requiring nasogastric tube placement. These manifestations include absent or hypoactive bowel sounds, non-passage of flatus or bowel movement, abdominal distension, more than three episodes of vomiting, with or without generalised crampy abdominal pain.	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Recording of post-operative tolerance of gum chewing and post-operative complications, including febrile morbidity (temperature greater than 38ºC on two occasions 6 hours apart), re-operation, blood transfusion, post-operative ileus, and hospital readmission 2. Occurrence of mild ileus symptoms (vomiting or abdominal distension felt by the patient and seen on examination) or post-operative paralytic ileus, defined as a group of manifestations persisting longer than 24 hours or requiring nasogastric tube placement. These manifestations include absent or hypoactive bowel sounds, non-passage of flatus or bowel movement, abdominal distension, more than three episodes of vomiting, with or without generalised crampy abdominal pain.

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Countries

Egypt

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026