Open Access

Effect of early enteral nutrition on patients with digestive tract surgery: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

  • Authors:
    • Xiao‑Liang Shu
    • Kai Kang
    • Li‑Juan Gu
    • Yong‑Sheng Zhang
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: August 1, 2016     https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2016.3559
  • Pages: 2136-2144
  • Copyright: © Shu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Postoperative early enteral nutrition (EEN) is useful for the effective recovery of patients that have undergone surgery. However, the feasibility and efficacy of EEN in patients with digestive tract surgery remain inconclusive. In the present meta‑analysis, the PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and VIP databases were searched to identify controlled trials of patients with and without EEN following digestive tract surgery between October, 1966 and December, 2014. Methodological quality assessment was carried out for each of the included studies. For estimation of the analysis indexes, relative risk (RR) was used as the effect size of the the categorical variable, while the weighted mean difference (MD) was used as the effect size of the continuous variable. The meta‑analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.2 software. Eleven randomized controlled trials involving 1,095 patients were included in the meta‑analysis. The results revealed that, EEN in patients with digestive tract surgery was more effective in decreasing the incidence of infectious [RR=0.50, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.38, 0.67; P<0.01] and non-infectious complications (RR=0.72, 95% CI: 0.43, 1.22; P<0.05) and shortening the length of first bowel action (MD=‑4.10, 95% CI: ‑5.38, ‑2.82; P<0.05). It also had a significant influence on increasing the serum albumin (MD=2.87, 95% CI: 1.03, 4.71; P<0.05) and serum prealbumin (MD=0.04, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.05; P<0.05) levels. In conclusion, the results of the study have shown that EEN in patients with digestive tract surgery improved the nutritional status, reduced the risk of postoperative complications, shortened the length of hospital stay and promoted the functional recovery of the digestive system.
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October-2016
Volume 12 Issue 4

Print ISSN: 1792-0981
Online ISSN:1792-1015

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Spandidos Publications style
Shu XL, Kang K, Gu LJ and Zhang YS: Effect of early enteral nutrition on patients with digestive tract surgery: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Exp Ther Med 12: 2136-2144, 2016
APA
Shu, X., Kang, K., Gu, L., & Zhang, Y. (2016). Effect of early enteral nutrition on patients with digestive tract surgery: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 12, 2136-2144. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2016.3559
MLA
Shu, X., Kang, K., Gu, L., Zhang, Y."Effect of early enteral nutrition on patients with digestive tract surgery: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 12.4 (2016): 2136-2144.
Chicago
Shu, X., Kang, K., Gu, L., Zhang, Y."Effect of early enteral nutrition on patients with digestive tract surgery: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 12, no. 4 (2016): 2136-2144. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2016.3559