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Functional Assessment of Intestinal Motility and Gut Wall Inflammation in Rodents: Analyses in a Standardized Model of Intestinal Manipulation

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Published on: September 11, 2012

Perioperative bowel habits of women undergoing gynecologic surgery: a pilot study

Megan E Tarr¹, Violet Klenov, Margaret E Tanzy

¹Division of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Obstetrics, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. megan.tarr@gmail.com

Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery

|May 1, 2012

Objectives:

To describe perioperative bowel habits of women undergoing gynecologic surgery.

Methods:

This prospective cohort study included women undergoing gynecologic surgery. Before surgery, participants completed the Bristol Stool Form Scale (BSFS), a validated instrument describing stool characteristics consistent with transit categories: slow (BSFS 1-2), normal (BSFS 3-5), and fast (BSFS 6-7). For 2 weeks after surgery, the participants recorded daily medications and bowel movements (BM), and completed BSFS. The χ(2) test, the Fisher exact test, analysis of variance, t tests, and ordinal regression were used.

Results:

Preoperatively, most (70%) of 340 women had normal stool transit, with 15% having slow transit and 7% having fast transit. Complete postoperative data were available for 170 (50%). Mean ± SD time to first postoperative BM was 2.8 ± 1.4 days with transit classification: 48% normal, 32% slow, and 20% fast.

Conclusions:

Most women had normal stool transit both preoperatively and postoperatively. Time to first BM was longer after open surgery by approximately 3 days.

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