Early Oral Feeding Compared With Traditional Postoperative Care in Patients Undergoing Emergency Abdominal Surgery for Perforated Duodenal Ulcer

Introduction Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols have been widely studied in elective abdominal surgeries with promising outcomes. However, the use of these protocols in emergency abdominal surgeries has not been widely investigated. This study aimed to evaluate ERAS application outcomes via early oral feeding compared to regular postoperative care in patients undergoing perforated duodenal ulcer repairs in emergency abdominal surgeries. Materials and methods We conducted a randomized controlled trial at the Surgical Unit 1 Benazir Bhutto Hospital from August 2018 to December 2019. A total of 42 patients presenting to the emergency department with peritonitis secondary to suspected perforated duodenal ulcer were included in the study. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups. Group A patients followed an ERAS protocol for early oral feeding, and Group B received regular postoperative care (i.e., delayed oral feeding). Our primary outcomes were the length of hospital stay, duodenal repair site leak, the severity of pain (via the visual analog scale), and postoperative ileus duration. Results were analyzed via IBM Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). and chi-square and independent t-tests were applied. Results Patients who received early oral feeding (Group A) showed a shorter length of hospital stay, lower pain scores, and shorter postoperative ileus duration than patients in the traditional postoperative care group. Also, we noted no duodenal repair site leak in the early oral feeding group. The differences between the two groups were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusions Based on our results, ERAS protocols that promote early oral feeding can be applied in patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery for perforated duodenal repair. Early oral feeding in emergency surgery patients can reduce the patient burden on hospitals. In addition, early oral feeding can promote better outcomes and reduced economic burden for patients.