1 Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon.
2 The Hebrew University- Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel.
3 Nuffield Department of Primary Care Sciences, University of Oxford, UK.
4 Brunel University London, London, UK.
International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 2025, 16(01), 2074-2083
Article DOI: 10.30574/ijsra.2025.16.1.2260
Received on 14 June 2025; revised on 26 July 2025; accepted on 29 July 2025
Background: Postoperative ileus is common after abdominal surgery and usually delays recovery. It is hypothesized that chewing gum accelerates postoperative transit recovery. Sugarless chewing gum may therefore produce the same effect after abdominal surgery.
Method: A randomized control trial was carried out for a period of 3 months in two referral hospitals in the southwest region of Cameroon. A total of 100 patients were randomly selected and divided into 2 groups: case group (n=50) and control group (n=50). In the case group, patients chewed sugarless gums for 30 minutes every 8 hours, until resumption of intestinal transit. Data were collected using a structured data collection form to assess the occurrence of first flatus, first bowel sound, resumption of feeding and length of hospital stay. Patients’ demography, surgical indication, intra operative and postoperative management was the same in both groups. Sugarless chewing gum was well tolerated by all patients.
Results: The first flatus occurred in 23 hours post operation in the case group and 33 hours in the control group (p=0.019), return of bowel sound occurred in 19 hours post operation in the case group and 27 hours in the control group (P=0.020), patients resumed feeding in 23 hours post operation in the case group and 34 hours in the control group (P=0.006).The mean hospital stay was 3.08 ±4.14 days in the case group and 4.42±5.33 days in the control group.
Conclusion: Our study suggests that Sugarless chewing gum stimulates bowel motility and therefore helps ameliorates postoperative ileus.
Postoperative Ileus; Sugarless Chewing Gum; Abdominal Surgery; Flatus; Bowel Sound; Hospital Stay
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Bertrand Kealebong Asonglefac, Ndung Ako Forbinake, Sintieh Nchinda Ngek Ekongefeyin, Elroy Patrick Weledji and Marcelin Ngowe Ngowe. Sugarless chewing gum and postoperative ileus following abdominal surgery in two referral hospitals in the Southwest Region of Cameroon. International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 2025, 16(01), 2074-2083. Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.30574/ijsra.2025.16.1.2260.
Copyright © 2025 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0
