Changes in bowel sounds of inpatients undergoing general anesthesia

BACKGROUND: General anesthesia can affect intestinal function, but there is no objective, practical and effective indicator to evaluate the inhibition and recovery of intestinal function. The main objectives of this study were to assess whether bowel sounds (BSs) changed before, immediately after and 3 h after general anesthesia, and whether these changes in BSs are an effective indicator of intestinal function and an accurate guide for postoperative feeding. METHODS: We randomly selected 26 inpatients and collected three sets of 5-min continuous BS data before the operation (Pre-op), immediately after the operation (Pro-op) and 3 h after the operation (3 h-Pro-op) for each patient. Then, the linear and nonlinear characteristic values (CVs) of each effective bowel sound were extracted and paired t tests and rank-sum tests were used to evaluate the changes in the BSs. RESULTS: The differences in CVs, between Pre-op and Pro-op, as well as between Pro-op and 3 h-Pro-op, were statistically significant (p < 0.05). However, there are no statistically significant differences between all the CVs between Pre-op and 3 h-Pro-op (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: BSs change before and after general anesthesia. Furthermore, the BSs are weakened due to general anesthesia and recover to the pre-op state 3 h later. Therefore, the BSs can be an indicator of intestinal function under general anesthesia, so as to provide guidance for postoperative feeding, which is of considerable clinical significance.