Objective: To evaluate the effect of Chinese medicinal herbs on digestive function, nutritional status, immune function and complication rate in patients after total gastrectomy.
Methods: Thirty-nine patients of gastrectomy were divided into two groups and were intubated into small intestine for administering postoperatively. Twenty-one of them belonged to the treated group and were dripped with Chinese medicinal herbs intraluminally during the early postoperative stage, while 18 cases of the control group were dripped with 0.9% sodium chloride.
Results: The digestive function of the treated group recovered rapidly, and the nutritional status and immune function improved markedly as compared with those of the control group (P < 0.001-0.05).
Conclusion: Early application of Chinese medicinal herbs after total gastrectomy could promote the digestive function to recover to normal, the nutritional status and immune function to improve. The occurrence of complication was reduced.