British journal of anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Randomized controlled trial of vagal modulation by sham feeding in elective non-gastrointestinal (orthopaedic) surgery.
Enhanced recovery, in part, aims to reduce postoperative gastrointestinal dysfunction (PGID). Acquired - or established- vagal dysfunction may contribute to PGID, even for surgery not involving the gastrointestinal tract. However, direct evidence for this is lacking. We hypothesized that chewing gum reduces morbidity (including PGID) by preserving efferent vagal neural activity postoperatively after elective orthopaedic surgery. ⋯ ISRCTN20301599.