According to a study, chewing gum after intestinal surgery can help reactivate paralyzed bowels and get patients out of the hospital sooner。

    Chewing gum afterintestinal surgerycan help reactivate paralyzedbowelsand get patients out of the hospital sooner, a study said on Monday.

    Patients who haveabdominal surgeryoften suffer a slowdown or shutdown of the bowels calledileusthat 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 thegastrointestinal 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 ofcomplications.

    "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."

    一項研究表明，患者在接受腸道手術之后，嚼口香糖可以幫助他們麻痹的腸道恢復運動，有助于患者早日出院。 

    據刊在《外科文獻》上的報告稱，患者在接受腹部手術后，經常會出現"腸梗阻"現象，即腸道運動緩慢或是腸道運動停止，這將引發腹痛、嘔吐或腹漲等反應，患者可能因此無法進食，甚至無法飲水。

    美國加州圣芭芭拉醫療站的羅布·舒斯特是這項研究報告的撰寫人。他在報告中寫道，此項研究的參與者每天嚼3次無糖口香糖。嚼口香糖將刺激人體內某些釋放激素的神經，而這些激素有助于促進腸胃系統活動。

    在參與研究的34名患者中，有一半的患者在手術之后的幾小時就開始咀嚼口香糖。研究發現，咀嚼口香糖的患者比另一半不嚼口香糖的患者早數小時排氣，并且，前者平均在手術后的63個小時里就出現了首次腸道運動，而后者在術后89個小時才出現首次腸道運動。

    那些每天咀嚼口香糖的患者術后平均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。咀嚼口香糖不僅減少了患者的醫療開支，同時還降低了發生并發癥的危險。

    "我們得出這樣一個結論：手術后早期咀嚼口香糖，有助于患者腸道早日恢復運動并促進他們的進食能力，"報告說，"這種便宜又容易接受的治療方法能幫助患者早日出院。"

    Vocabulary:

    intestinal surgery:（腸道手術）

    bowels:the intestine（腸子）

    abdominal surgery:（腹部手術）

    ileus:（醫學用語：“腸梗阻”）

    gastrointestinal system:（腸胃系統）