Abstract:
Background: Gastrointestinal tract Recovery following gastrointestinal surgery is a very important parameter to
determine the outcome of gastrointestinal surgery. Gastrointestinal tract dysfunction is the commonest postoperative complication and is the cause of delayed hospital discharge..
Objective: To compare mean time for recovery of gastrointestinal function, in Thoracic Epidural Analgesia and
Systemic Opioid Analgesia groups in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery.
Study Design: Randomized controlled trial.
Setting: Department of Anaesthesia, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital & Research Centre, Lahore.
Duration of study: 6 months.
Method: 60 cases (30 cases in each group) were included in this study. Group A was given Thoracic Epidural
Analgesia whereas group B patients received Systemic Opioid Analgesia.
Results: Mean age was 32.76±5.33 in group A and 31.21±7.84 years in group B. In group A 22 patients (44%)
and in group B 24 patients (48.0%) were male while 28 patients (56.0%) in group A and 26 patients (52%) in
group B were female. Group A has shown early recovery of gastrointestinal function (time: 42.63±1.86hours) as
compared to Group B (time: 79.93±4.73hours). P-value=0.0002 was obtained that was extremely significant.
Conclusion: Thoracic Epidural Analgesia provides early recovery of gastrointestinal function as compared to
Systemic Opioid Analgesia in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery
