Compared With a Nasointestinal Route, Pre-operative Enteral Nutrition a Nasogastric Tube Reduced the Incidence of Acalculous Acute Cholecystitis After Definitive Surgery for Small Intestinal Fistula.

This study aimed to investigate the difference in the efficacy of pre-operative enteral nutrition (EN) a nasogastric tube (NGT) and pre-operative EN a nasointestinal tube (NIT) in reducing the incidence of post-operative acalculous acute cholecystitis (AAC) after definitive surgery (DS) for small intestinal fistulas. Patients with a small intestinal fistula, who had a DS for the disease between January 2015 and March 2021, were enrolled in this study. They were divided into the NIT group and the NGT group based on the pre-operative routes of feeding they received. The clinical characteristics of the two groups were analyzed, and the incidences of post-operative AAC in the two groups were evaluated. A total of 200 patients were enrolled in the study, 85 in the NGT group and 115 in the NIT group. Thirty-one patients developed post-operative AAC (8 in the NGT group and 23 in the NIT group). The incidence of post-operative AAC was 15.5%. EN the NGT route was associated with a reduction in the incidence of post-operative AAC (adjusted HR = 0.359; 95% CI: 0.139-0.931; = 0.035). Pre-operative EN the NGT may reduce the incidence of post-operative AAC in patients who received a DS for small intestinal fistulas.