Effect of preoperative feeding on gallbladder size and peristaltic of the small bowel following spinal anesthesia for the hip surgery

The main aim of our study was to determine the influence of preoperative feeding with clear carbohydrate rich drink (PreOp 200 mL) on peristaltic of the small intestine and gallbladder size early after the orthopedic surgery in spinal anesthesia. Clinical study includes 120 patients with fracture of femoral neck or pertrochanteric fracture. All patients were randomized in two groups, sixty patients, PreOp group, consumed carbohydrate drink two hours before surgery. Other 60 patients, Control group, represent patients who fasted overnight. After surgery, patients were submitted to ultrasound examination for measurement of the small bowel motions and gallbladder size. Four quadrants (up-right, up-left, down-right and down-left) of the abdomen were examined, each one in duration of 30 seconds. The results show that the length of the gallbladder is considerably different across the two groups; 5.866 cm in the PreOp group and 7.178 cm in the Control group (p = 0.00). The width, however, differed somewhat less (PreOp group 2.437 cm, Control group 2.735 cm) and the statistically significant difference can be observed at 7% level (p = 0.073). We found no statistically significant relationship between PreOp and Control group variables of each abdominal quadrant (lowest p > 0.087). Accordingly, the means of the variables were found statistically significantly different between groups (p > 0.05). In conclusion our study showed that the preoperative feeding of the patients undergoing orthopedic surgery in spinal anesthesia shortens the length but not the width of the gallbladder when compared with overnight fasting patients and also clearly enhance motility of the small bowel in all four quadrant of the abdomen.