Does Chewing Gum After Elective Laparoscopic Colectomy Surgery Decrease Ileus?
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00632801. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
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Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
The incidence of ileus after laparoscopic colectomy continues to pose complications for the patient, staff, and the healthcare system. Postoperative ileus remains a source of morbidity and a major determinant of length of stay after abdominal surgery. Clinicians have devised strategies that minimize postoperative ileus. Gum chewing, an inexpensive intervention, is theorized to activate the cephalic- vagal reflex and increase the production of gastrointestinal hormones associated with bowel motility. Four studies examining gum chewing as an intervention to prevent ileus were found. These relatively few studies have demonstrated inconsistencies. Because of the small sample size of the four studies and the inconsistencies of the results, there is not enough evidence to change practice. There are no indications of risks associated with gum chewing as an adjunct therapy along with standard postoperative interventions. The purpose of this prospective, randomized control study is to examine if chewing gum in adult patients after elective laparoscopic colectomy decreases ileus compared with standard post-operative care. Patients will be randomized by weeks admitted and the patients in the gum chewing group (intervention group) will chew one stick of gum the first post-operative day, after the nasogastric tube is removed or if they patient does not have a nasogastric tube, with the head of bed elevated a minimum of 30 degrees for 30 minutes, three times a day at set intervals: 0900, 1400, and 2100. The gum will be kept in the Accudose cabinet and distributed by the medication nurse. The gum chewing regimen will continue until the first bowel movement. All patients in the non-intervention group will receive standard preoperative and postoperative regimens. Patient demographics that will be collected include gender, age, current medical condition, pre-operative medications, type of surgery, operative duration in minutes, anesthesia duration in minutes, estimated operative blood loss, whether they had an epidural or a PCA, date and time nasogastric tube was discontinued, length of stay, date of discharge, complications, and whether or not they had an ileus. Patients (if appropriate) and nurses will be instructed on how to complete the bedside bowel record to the nearest hour.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT00632801
- Recruitment status
- Terminated
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 3 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 89 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Nov 30, 2007
- Primary completion
- Nov 30, 2011
- Completion
- Nov 30, 2011
- Last update posted
- Dec 8, 2014
2007 – 2011
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUNY UMU | Syracuse | New York | 13210 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00632801, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Dec 8, 2014 · Synced Sep 4, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT00632801 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.