Effects and timing exploration of early enteral nutrition after thoracoscopic resection of esophageal cancer

Abstract

Objective To explore the best time of initiating enteral nutrition for patients after thoracoscopic resection of esophageal cancer and impacted on Prognosis. Methods A total of 202 esophageal cancer patients were treated in Department of Thoracic Surgery Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, who were divided into experimental group (n=88) and control group (n=114) by random number table and received enteral nutrition 8-12 h and 24-48 h respectively after operation. At 1 d before operation, 5 d, 8 d after operation, we compared the main nutrition indexes of blood chemistry, and observed the effects of clinical nutrition support and incidence of complications. Results Five days after operation, the total protein and albumin of experimental group were (57.44±4.61), (29.53±3.05)g/L higher than (53.58±5.22), (27.13±3.27)g/L of the control group (t=5.48, 5.33; P 0.05). There were 24 cases complications in the control group and 16 cases in the experimental group (χ2=0.26, P=0.612). The discomfort patients of gastrointestinal tract was 26 in the control group while it was 21 persons in the experimental group (χ2=0.03, P=0.860). Conclusions The best time of enteral nutrition after operation is 8-12 hours, which can improve the nutritional status of patients and decrease postoperative complications with the clinical feasibility. Key words: Esophageal cancer; Thoracoscope; Nutrition support; Enteral nutrition; Timing