Other potential clinical uses of oral rehydration.

An increasing awareness that bowel absorptive function can be maintained or returned to normal soon after trauma or abdominal injury and the formulation of glucose/electrolyte solutions specifically designed to be rapidly absorbed from the small bowel are responsible for the current trend of early oral rehydration and decreasing use of intravenous fluids in surgical patients. Much of this article is devoted to observations and results of clinical trials on surgical patients in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Dr Gray's Hospital, Elgin. To date, the results of early oral rehydration after surgery have been sufficiently encouraging to create changes in the routine fluid resuscitation and management protocols in several areas of surgical practice at these centres.