POST-OPERATIVE ILEUS
- Following most abdominal operations or
injuries, the motility of GI tract is transiently impaired. - Proposed mechanisms responsible for this dysmotility are surgical stress-induced
sympathetic reflexes, inflammatory response mediator release, and anesthetic / analgesic effects; each of which can inhibit intestinal motility.
• Return of normal motility: small intestine (within 24 hours) > Gastric (48 hours)Q>Colonic(3-5 days)
•Post-operative ileus is most pronounced in colon.
Because small bowel motility is returned before colonic and gastric motility, listening for bowel sounds is not a reliable indicator that ileus has fully resolved.