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Quantification of the effects of coffee on postoperative ileus after laparoscopic ventral rectopexy: a randomized controlled trial

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Summary

Background

Coffee consumption positively affects intestinal function following abdominal surgery with bowel resection. This study aimed to quantify the effect of coffee on intestinal activity after laparoscopic ventral rectopexy (LVR).

Methods

We conducted a single-center, open-labeled, randomized controlled trial from 2014 to 2016 (UMIN-CTR, UMIN000024908). Patients who had undergone scheduled LVR for rectal intussusception or external rectal prolapse were randomly assigned to a coffee group or a water group (23 per group) and asked to drink 100 ml of either coffee or water after the procedure. Each participant was orally administered a radiopaque marker capsule the morning after surgery, and abdominal radiographs were obtained daily. The primary outcome was the total number of evacuated radiopaque markers 26 h after administration. Secondary outcomes included time to first flatus and defecation and results of segmental transit analysis of the markers on radiographs.

Results

The mean number of evacuated radiopaque markers 26 h after administration in the coffee group was significantly higher than that in the water group (1 [range, 0–6] vs. 0 [range, 0–0]; p = 0.04), however, the mean time (hours) to first defecation (55.1 [range, 19.1–114.0] vs. 69.7 [range, 20.7–141.6]; p = 0.13) or time (hours) to first flatus (9.3 [range, 0.5–47.1] vs. 12.6 [range, 1.1–46.1]; p = 0.35) was not significant.

Conclusion

Coffee consumption accelerates bowel movements, but its clinical effect after LVR is also small. Further studies about the indication of coffee for the type of surgery or the optimal amount of coffee consumption are warranted.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Yoshiyuki Kiyasu, Yuma Yagi, Tomonori Ohta, and Tomoko Takahashi for assisting with operations and perioperative care. We also thank all other staff involved in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Kameda Medical Center, 929 Higashi-cho, 296-8602, Kamogawa City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

    Kentaro Hayashi, Akira Tsunoda & Hiroshi Kusanagi

  2. Emergency and Trauma Center, Kameda Medical Center, Kamogawa City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

    Atsushi Shiraishi

Authors
  1. Kentaro Hayashi
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  2. Akira Tsunoda
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  3. Atsushi Shiraishi
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  4. Hiroshi Kusanagi
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Correspondence to Kentaro Hayashi.

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Conflict of interest

K. Hayashi, A. Tsunoda, A. Shiraishi, and H. Kusanagi declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical standards

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hayashi, K., Tsunoda, A., Shiraishi, A. et al. Quantification of the effects of coffee on postoperative ileus after laparoscopic ventral rectopexy: a randomized controlled trial. Eur Surg 51, 325–332 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10353-019-0605-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10353-019-0605-x

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