The Effect of Chewing Gum and Hot Compresses on Gynecologic Oncologic Surgery

March 24, 2026 updated by: Eda Polat, Istanbul Medeniyet University

The Effect of Chewing Gum and Hot Compresses on Postoperative Pain, Bowel Function, and Patient Comfort After Gynecologic Oncologic Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The passage discusses the recovery of gastrointestinal (GI) function after abdominal surgery and the potential impact on patient comfort. After surgery, small bowel activity typically returns to normal within a few hours, gastric activity within 24-48 hours, and colonic activity within 48-72 hours. However, the delayed mobility of the GI system postoperatively can lead to issues such as abdominal bloating, nausea, vomiting, and pain. These symptoms can negatively affect patient comfort, leading to increased post-operative pain, decreased mobility, reduced satisfaction, and a longer hospital stay. Therefore, interventions that expedite the normalization of bowel activity are crucial. Chewing is suggested to stimulate intestinal motility by activating the cephalovagal pathway, which influences neurogenic and hormonal factors regulating GI functions. Postoperative heat application aims to prevent hypothermia, enhance bodily functions, and potentially promote bowel motility by stimulating somatic nerves. The study explores the effects of gum chewing and hot application protocols on postoperative pain, bowel function, and patient comfort after gynecologic oncologic surgery. It aims to contribute valuable insights to the existing literature on postoperative outcomes.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

After abdominal surgery, small bowel activity returns to normal within a few hours, gastric activity within 24-48 hours, and colonic activity within 48-72 hours. Due to the delayed mobility of the gastrointestinal (GI) system in the postoperative period, gas and secretions accumulated in the stomach and intestines cause abdominal bloating, nausea, vomiting, and pain, negatively impacting patient comfort. This can lead to increased post-operative pain, decreased post-operative mobility, decreased patient satisfaction and prolonged hospital stay. Therefore, procedures that shorten the time to normalization of bowel activity in the postoperative period are very important. Chewing stimulates intestinal motility in humans. The chewing mechanism is thought to work by stimulating the cephalovagal pathway. Stimulation of the cephalovagal pathway stimulates various neurogenic and hormonal factors that modulate the functions of the gastrointestinal tract. Problems related to decreased intestinal motility after minimally invasive surgery can cause postoperative side effects due to delayed recovery of GI function. The basic rationale of postoperative heat application is to prevent the development of hypothermia during and after surgery by regionally warming the patient's body, eliminating the slowing effect of hypothermia, and helping to activate bodily functions early. It has been suggested that heat application may reflexively promote bowel motility by stimulating somatic nerves via the supraspinal or spinal cord, and it has been demonstrated that stimulation of warm receptors in the skin with heat may reflexly inhibit sympathetic nerves and promote parasympathetic nerve activity in the bowel as a supraspinal and spinal reflex. There are few studies in the literature examining the effect of chewing gum and heat application on postoperative outcomes after gynecologic oncologic surgery. No study was found that compared the two applications. This study was designed to compare the effects of gum chewing and hot application protocols on postoperative pain, bowel function, and patient comfort after gynecologic oncologic surgery. It is believed that this study will make an important contribution to the literature.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

84

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
      • Ankara, Turkey (Türkiye)
        • Dr. Abdurrahman Yalcin Training and Research Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18 years of age or older
  • To undergo elective minimally invasive gynecologic surgery
  • No cognitive, affective and mental problems that would prevent gum chewing and hot application
  • Does not have any chronic disease
  • No previous abdominal surgery
  • Turkish speaking and
  • Women who volunteer to participate in the study will be included.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Who wants to leave the work for any reason
  • History of ileostomy and colostomy
  • He was taken to intensive care after the surgery and
  • Women with postoperative complications (bleeding, infection, etc.) will be excluded from the study.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Gum
Patients who will chew gum after surgery will constitute this group
Other: Gum
In the postoperative period, starting from the 4th hour, chewing gum is done 3 times a day, morning, noon and evening, for 30 minutes each, until the patient passes the first flatus.
Experimental: Hot Compress
Patients who will undergo hot compress after surgery will constitute this group
Other: Hot Compress
Starting from the 1st postoperative day, patients will receive hot application (to the lumbar region) for 10 minutes in the morning and evening. The hot application is applied by wrapping 2 towels in a water bag containing 55 ± 2 °C hot water. The water bag is applied to the lumbar region for 10 minutes with the patient in the supine position. The application is continued until the patient passes the first flatus.
No Intervention: Control
Patients who will undergo routine protocol will constitute this group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Visual Analog Scale
Time Frame: 8 months
This scale, which can be used horizontally or vertically, is shaped like a 10 cm line. The scale begins with "No pain" and ends with "My pain is very severe. The person is asked to select a number between 0 and 10 that corresponds to the pain they feel on this scale.
8 months
General Comfort Scale
Time Frame: 8 months
The highest total score that can be obtained from the scale is 192 and the lowest total score is 48. Obtained The total score depends on the number of scale items.
8 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Istanbul Medeniyet University

Collaborators

Istanbul University
Dr Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Ankara Oncology Training and Research Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Merve Beke, MSc, Dr. Abdurrahman Yalcin Training and Research Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 22, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 8, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

January 9, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 27, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 24, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IstanbulMU20

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

IPD Plan Description

A decision will be made by the researchers at the end of the research.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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