COMPARISON OF ESOPHAGECTOMY WITH AND WITHOUT PLACEMENT OF JEJUNOSTOMY TUBE

Maintaining the nutritional and metabolic condition is one of the consequential
pillars in the post-operative care. Feeding through a Jejunostomy Tube (JT) has been advocated in
patients who undergo major operations on the upper gastrointestinal tract to enhance and accelerate an
early enteral feeding. The present study aimed to examine benefits and complications of a JT insertion
in such patients.
Materials & Methods: This quasi experimental and case-control study was performed in 2009-2014 on
100 patients who underwent Esophagectomy. Patients were divided into two groups. In the case group,
Jejunostomy Tube was inserted for 50 patients while control group was fed normally and through
intravenous injection. In this study, the clinical and economic aspects of the two groups were recorded
and compared. Descriptive and analytic statistics were used to analyze the data.
Results: According to the results of this study, length of hospital stay and the beginning of oral intake
interval were significantly shorter in the Jejunostomy group (P=0.02). Distention in Jejunostomy group
was significantly more than other group (P = 0.04). The total cost of hospitalization in Jejunostomy
group was significantly lower (P <0.001). In this study, there were no cases of infection and serious
complications leading to death While erythema (%4), pneumonia (%4), urinary tract infection (%6),
anastomotic leak (%10) and, catheter obstruction (%12) were seen in patients of Jejunostomy group.
Conclusion: JT is a safe and saving approach in nutritional support of patients after Esophagectomy and
its routine insertion are recommended