Chewing gum after intestinal surgery can help reactivate paralyzed bowels and get patients out of the hospital sooner, a study said on Monday.

Patients who have abdominal surgery often suffer a slowdown or shutdown of the bowels called ileus that causes pain, vomiting and abdominal swelling, and they may not be able to tolerate food or even water, the report published in the Archives of Surgery said.

Study participants had no problem chewing sugarless gum three times a day. Chewing stimulates nerves that promote the release of hormones responsible for activating the gastrointestinal system, wrote study author Rob Schuster of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California.

Seventeen of 34 patients who chewed gum beginning a few hours after surgery passed gas several hours sooner than the half who did not chew, and they had their first bowel movements an average of 63 hours after surgery compared with 89 hours for non-chewers.

The gum chewers got out of the hospital an average of 4.3 days after surgery versus 6.8 days for non-chewers, reducing costs and lowering the risk of complications .

"We conclude that gum chewing early in the postoperative period following (surgery) hastens time to bowel motility and ability to tolerate feedings," the report said. "This inexpensive and well-tolerated treatment resulted in earlier hospital discharge."

参考译文

本周一公布的一项研究表明，患者在接受肠道手术之后，嚼口香糖可以帮助他们麻痹的肠道恢复运动，有助于患者早日出院。 

据刊在《外科文献》上的报告称，患者在接受腹部手术后，经常会出现"肠梗阻"现象，即肠道运动缓慢或是肠道运动停止，这将引发腹痛、呕吐或腹涨等反应，患者可能因此无法进食，甚至无法饮水。

美国加州圣芭芭拉医疗站的罗布-舒斯特是这项研究报告的撰写人。他在报告中写道，此项研究的参与者每天嚼3次无糖口香糖。嚼口香糖将刺激人体内某些释放激素的神经，而这些激素有助于促进肠胃系统活动。

在参与研究的34名患者中，有一半的患者在手术之后的几小时就开始咀嚼口香糖。研究发现，咀嚼口香糖的患者比另一半不嚼口香糖的患者早数小时排气，并且，前者平均在手术后的63个小时里就出现了首次肠道运动，而后者在术后89个小时才出现首次肠道运动。

那些每天咀嚼口香糖的患者术后平均4.3天就出院了，而另外不咀嚼口香糖的患者平均6.8天后才出院。咀嚼口香糖不仅减少了患者的医疗开支，同时还降低了发生并发症的危险。
 
“我们得出这样一个结论：手术后早期咀嚼口香糖，有助于患者肠道早日恢复运动并促进他们的进食能力，"报告说，"这种便宜又容易接受的治疗方法能帮助患者早日出院。”