Background: Despite of widespread belief, clinical studies and animal experiments have suggested that initiation of early feeding after surgery has many advantages. Present study was planned for comparing outcomes of early and late enteral feeding in patients who were undergoing gastrointestinal surgeries in our settings. This would help the surgeons to select better option for earlier recovery after surgery

Objective: To compare the outcome of early versus late enteral feeding in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgeries.

Design: It was a randomized controlled trial.

Study Settings: The study was conducted at Department of General Surgery, PIMS Islamabad for a period of six months w.e.f 20-12-2017 to 19-06-2018.

Patients and Methods: A total of two hundred (n=200) patients of both gender between age 15-70 years, who had been scheduled for elective or emergency gastrointestinal surgery were enrolled in the study. Patients were randomized early (Group A, <24 hours after surgery) and late enteral feeding (Group B, <24 hours after surgery). Outcomes were estimated in terms of infection, anastomotic leak and duration of hospital stay in both groups.

Results: Mean age of the patients was 36.8±11.2. There were total 85 females and 115 males with female to male ratio of 1:1.35. Mean duration of hospital stay was 2.62 days ± 0.71 in group A and it was 6.55 days ± 0.71 2.93SD in groups B (P=0.001). Wound infection rate (8% vs 33%, P=0.001) and anastomotic leak rate (0% vs 10%, P=0.001) was also significantly lower in group A when compared with group B.

Conclusion: Initiation of early enteral feeding (within 24 hours post operatively) in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgeries has an immediate advantage of caloric intake and results in faster recovery with fewer complications. Similar results are found in the literature. We recommend early initiation (within 24 hours after surgery) of enteral feeding in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgeries.

Keywords: Anostomotic leak, early enteral nutrition (EEN), late enteral nutrition (LEN).