Hanif J, Frosh A
Department of ENT Surgery, West Middlesex Hospital, London, UK.
Auris Nasus Larynx. 1999 Jan;26(1):65-8. doi: 10.1016/s0385-8146(98)00046-7.
Patients are traditionally advised to eat early and frequently in the initial post-tonsillectomy period to reduce the severity of pain and to facilitate early resumption to a normal diet. We investigated the action of mastication and therefore the promotion of saliva formation and deglutition on the post-operative recovery of tonsillectomy patients.
We present a prospective randomised controlled trial set up to observe the effects of chewing gum on these patients. One hundred and two patients undergoing routine tonsillectomy for recurrent tonsillitis were randomised into cases (those given chewing-gum) and control groups (those not given chewing-gum). Eighty-four patients were reviewed on the seventh post-operative day. We measured the time taken in days for the subjects to resume to their normal diet after surgery and measured pain on a daily basis.
Our study demonstrated that chewing gum in the early post-operative period significantly delayed resumption of normal diet (Chi-squared test with Yates' correction, chi2= 4.6, P = 0.032). Chewing gum also increased the average amount of pain experienced by the cases over the controls and this became statistically significant on day 7 (mean difference = 14.8, t-test with two tailed probability, P = 0.041).
We conclude that chewing gum should not be routinely advised in the early period following tonsillectomy.
传统上建议患者在扁桃体切除术后初期少食多餐，以减轻疼痛程度并促进早日恢复正常饮食。我们研究了咀嚼动作，进而研究唾液分泌和吞咽对扁桃体切除术后患者恢复的促进作用。
我们开展了一项前瞻性随机对照试验，以观察口香糖对这些患者的影响。102例因复发性扁桃体炎接受常规扁桃体切除术的患者被随机分为试验组（给予口香糖的患者）和对照组（未给予口香糖的患者）。术后第7天对84例患者进行了复查。我们测量了受试者术后恢复正常饮食所需的天数，并每天测量疼痛程度。
我们的研究表明，术后早期咀嚼口香糖显著延迟了正常饮食的恢复（采用Yates校正的卡方检验，χ2 = 4.6，P = 0.032）。与对照组相比，咀嚼口香糖还增加了试验组患者的平均疼痛程度，且在第7天具有统计学意义（平均差值 = 14.8，双侧概率t检验，P = 0.041）。
我们得出结论，扁桃体切除术后早期不应常规建议患者咀嚼口香糖。
