Healthnotes Newswire (October 2, 2008)—Good news for people undergoing certain abdominal surgeries: a swift recovery may be as easy as chewing gum. A new study published in the Archives of Surgery found that chewing gum after colon surgery may help normalize bowel function.

Surgery to remove part of or all of the colon (the large intestine) may be performed for a variety of reasons including colon cancer, diverticulosis, or Crohn’s disease. Colon surgery may be a life-saving procedure, but it can also bring about uncomfortable and painful symptoms such as constipation and the inability to pass gas, which can lead to other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and abdominal bloating. These seemingly benign problems can actually lengthen a person’s hospital stay following abdominal surgery and increase healthcare costs.

Small step with big payoffs

The authors of this article reviewed five studies that included 158 people who underwent a removal of the colon (colectomy) and were randomly assigned to chew gum or not chew gum after their surgery. Following surgery, the people in the chewing gum groups chewed sugarless gum three times a day from 5 to 45 minutes. The time to pass gas and have a first bowel movement after surgery was significantly reduced in gum chewers compared with those who did not chew gum. Hospital stay was also reduced by more than one day in a subgroup of people who chewed gum.

“The potential cost savings from the reduction of even one postoperative day compared with the cost of several sticks of chewing gum are huge and have even bigger cost implications for a health care provider as large as the National Health Service,” said Sanjay Purkayastha and his colleagues from the Department of Biosurgery and Surgical Technology, Imperial College, St. Mary’s Hospital, London, England. A prior study estimated that spending $47,531 per year in gum could potentially save $118,828,000 in healthcare costs per year.

A simple, inexpensive aid to recovery

Normal bowel function is governed by the nervous system, hormones, neurotransmitters, and local factors including inflammatory pathways, the authors explained. When a person has surgery, the normal functional mechanisms are disrupted and may lead to a variety of complications. Medications have been used to successfully restore bowel function after surgery, but they can be quite costly. Chewing gum may be a simple measure to help restore bowel function by stimulating nerves and hormones that keep the bowels working as well as stimulating saliva and secretions from the pancreas that are important for digestion. The authors recommend further studies to evaluate the benefit of chewing gum after abdominal surgery.

(Arch Surg 2008;142:788–93)