Postoperative nutritional management based on all-rice porridge and semi-solid oral nutritional supplements after laparoscopic gastrectomy for gastric cancer patients

<p>Aim: We sought to determine the effect of different nutritional management regimens after gastric cancer surgery on full consumption of meals after surgery and short-term postoperative weight change. Methods: We investigated 122 consecutive patients with stage I gastric cancer who underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy between November 2011 and July 2017. Patients were divided into three nutritional management groups based on the clinical pathway (including postoperative oral diet) followed in our hospital before April 2013, between April 2013 and April 2015, and after April 2015: early term group (n=33) received clear liquid from postoperative (POD) 1 and a liquid food diet from POD4; mid-term group (n=45) received semi-solid oral nutritional supplements from POD1 and a staple diet of thin rice porridge from POD4; and late-term group (n=44) received semi-solid oral nutritional supplements from POD1 and a staple diet of thick rice porridge from POD4. We compared perioperative progress, the percentage of patients who fully consumed their postoperative meals, and weight change within the first month between the groups. Results: The percentage of patients who fully consumed their first postoperative meal increased (33.3%, 68.9%, and 77.3% in the early, mid-term, and late-term groups, respectively) and the percentage of weight loss decreased (7.1±3.9%, 6.5±3.5%, and 5.7±2.2%, respectively) according to the postoperative nutritional management regimen. Conclusions: Transitioning from semi-solid oral supplements to thick rice porridge meals in postoperative nutritional management for gastric cancer helped to increase the percentage of patients who fully consumed their postoperative meals and preventing postoperative weight loss.</p>