Impact on Short-Term Complications of Early Oral Feeding in Patients with Esophageal Cancer After Esophagectomy

Abstract

To evaluate early oral feeding (EOF) in short-term outcomes of patients with esophageal cancer after esophagectomy. 179 patients with esophageal cancer who underwent esophagectomy between January 2016 and February 2018 were enrolled for this study. 87 patients with EOF without nasogastric tube or nasogastric tube was removed within 24 h, were selected as the experimental group, whereas 92 patients who received nasojejunal tube feeding were set as the control group. All laboratory testing, clinical features, and hospitalization expenses were compared between the two groups. No statistical significance was observed between the two groups in hemoglobin, albumin, and prealbumin levels after esophagectomy. Notably, there was no significant difference in the incidence of severe pneumonia and anastomotic leakage between the two groups. Admittance period, postoperative defecation time, and medical expenses were significantly decreased among patients with EOF (P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox multiple-factor regression analysis revealed that there was no correlation between EOF and the risk of anastomotic leakage. EOF might not be a risk factor for increasing the incidence of severe pneumonia and anastomotic leakage in patients with esophageal cancer after esophagectomy, and it could reduce the hospitalization period as well as control medical expenses.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the patients and their families for participating in the study.

Conflicts of interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Ethics approval

Approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee

Provenance and peer review

Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed

Contributors

YL, JHW, and MY developed the conception and design of the study; GYL and QF collected the data; LLZ, PZ, and ZJL completed the analysis of data. YL, ZJL, and MY jointly drafted the whole manuscript, the table, and the figure in the manuscript.

Corresponding author MY is responsible for the final approval of the version to be published.

Additional information

Funding

Mu Yang is supported by the Sichuan Cancer Hospital & Institute Tumor Immunological Program (YBR2009002).