Impact of an Early Oral Feeding Protocol on Inflammatory Cytokine Changes After Esophagectomy

Background The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of early oral feeding (EOF) on inflammatory cytokine levels after McKeown minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) for cancer. Methods This study was based on a randomized controlled trial (NCT01998230). Patients with esophageal cancer who received McKeown MIE were randomly allocated into a group that started oral feeding on postoperative day (POD) 1 (EOF group) or a second group that received nil by mouth until 7 days after operation (late oral feeding [LOF] group). We chose 86 patients, 46 patients in the EOF group and 40 patients in the LOF group, in which to analyze inflammatory cytokine levels (interleukin [IL]-6, IL-8, tumor necrosis factor-a [TNF-α], and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 [MCP-1]). Results The EOF and LOF groups exhibited similar preoperative IL-6, IL-8 TNF-α, and MCP-1 levels. The levels of the four inflammatory cytokines at PODs 1 and 3 were significantly higher than the preoperative levels (all p p p Conclusions Compared with conventional rehabilitation programs the EOF protocol may decrease stress response after McKeown MIE.