Post-Operative Benefits of Nasogastric Tubes in Patients with Gut Resection and Anastomosis: Myth or Reality?

Objective: To analyze the post-operative benefits of nasogastric tubes among patients undergoing gut resection and anastomosis at our surgical unit. Study Design: Prospective comparative study. Place and Duration of Study: Surgical Department, Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jun 2019 to Mar2020. Methodology: This study was conducted on 80 patients who underwent gut resection and anastomosis due to localized cause at surgical unit of our hospital. With block randomization method half of the patients received nasogastric (NG) tube after the surgery while half did not. Presence of nausea or vomiting, pain abdomen, return of bowel sounds and electrolyte imbalance were compared in both the groups. Results: Out of 80 patients included in the final analysis 50(62.5%) were male and 30(37.5%) were female. Mean age of patients put who underwent the gut resection and anastomosis procedure in our study was 41.34±5.147 years. Chi-square test revealed that all parameters included in the study did not differ significantly among patients with and without nasogastric tube after the surgery. Conclusion: Administration of nasogastric tube did not prove any better in reducing the post-operative abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. It also did not prove to be effective in preventing the electrolyte imbalance and helping in returning the bowel sounds early. Patients with and without nasogastric tube had equal chance of having any of the complications.