Zhu Z, et al. - Researchers here aimed at determining the effect of ‘chewing 50 times per bite’ on early oral feeding following minimally invasive oesophagectomy (MIE). Findings revealed the ‘50 chewing times per bite’ solid food intake method on postoperative day (POD) 1 in patients with MIE as feasible and safe, because the application of this method helped to convert solid food into liquid nutrition. More importantly, they established that it is possible for patients to be able to eat at will on Day 1 following MIE.

Methods

• 95 cases of oesophageal carcinoma who underwent MIE from May 2016 to December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed.
• A ‘chewing 50 times per bite’ method for solid food intake on postoperative day (POD) 1 was instructed to all the patients.
• The incidence of pneumonia and anastomotic leakage rate were the primary end-points.
• Furthermore, they assessed postoperative nutritional status.

Results

• 95 patients started oral nutrition on POD 1.
• In this study, the anastomotic leakage rate and pneumonia incidence rate were 2.1% and 7.4%, respectively.
• On POD 1, POD 3 and POD 5, the mean caloric intake were 1388 ± 184, 1549 ± 206 and 1522 ± 203 respectively, which were 78%, 88% and 77% of the mean caloric requirements, respectively.
• Findings suggested no marked differences in protein index values between the preoperative measurements and the hospital discharge measurements.