Korean J Anesthesiol.  2006 Dec;51(6):659-662. 10.4097/kjae.2006.51.6.659.

Effect of Anesthetic Methods on Gastrointestinal Bowel Movement after Colon Surgery

• Lee KM
• Bae JW
• Kim YH
• Lim HS
• Lee JH
• Cheong SH
• Choe YK
• Kim YJ
• Shin CM

• KMID: 2243597
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4097/kjae.2006.51.6.659

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal bowel movements are reduced by opioid-based anesthesia. Remifentanil is commonly used as total intravenous anesthesia. This study compared to the effect of various anesthetic methods on gastrointestinal bowel movement after colon surgery.
METHODS
Ninety patients were allocated randomly into three groups. Thirty patients received intraoperative inhalation anesthesia (desflurane + N2O, Group I), 30 patients received intraoperative total intravenous anesthesia (propofol + remifentanil, Group II), and 30 patients received intraoperative epidural anesthesia (epidural lidocaine + propofol, Group III). All patients received postoperative epidural analgesia with a mixture of ropivacaine and morphine. The time to the first passage of flatus, hospital stay and visual analog pain scale were recorded.
RESULTS
There was no significant difference in first passage of flatus among groups (Group I: 92.7 +/- 19.6, Group II: 86.9 +/- 19.4, Group III: 81.9 +/- 12.8 hours, P = 0.063). There were no significant difference in the hospital stay and visual analog scale among the three groups.
CONCLUSIONS
Total intravenous anesthesia with remifentanil did not reduce the gastrointestinal bowel movements compared with those of inhalation or epidural anesthesia.

Keyword

bowel movement; colon surgery; desflurane; epidural anesthesia; propofol; remifentanil

MeSH Terms

Analgesia, Epidural
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, Epidural
Anesthesia, Inhalation
Anesthesia, Intravenous
Colon*
Flatulence
Humans
Inhalation
Length of Stay
Lidocaine
Morphine
Pain Measurement
Propofol
Visual Analog Scale
Lidocaine
Morphine
Propofol