A multicentre randomized controlled trial involving 52 patients revealed that chewing gum can significantly shorten postoperative ileus following laparotomy for gastroduodenal perforations. The median duration of ileus was reduced by 21.5 hours in patients who chewed gum compared to those who did not (28.5 hours vs. 50 hours, p=0.002). Additionally, the length of hospital stay decreased by 2.5 days in the gum group (5.4 days vs. 7.9 days, p=0.007) with no increase in complications.
Closing a midline laparotomy with small, closely spaced fascial bites prevents more incisional hernias than the traditional large-bite technique, and the benefit lasts beyond two years.
Over five decades, surgery went from the most disruptive research field to the only one where papers, on average, reinforce existing ideas rather than redirect the field.
Members of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons want a say in how surgery will work beyond Earth, and robotics tops their list.
