Pre & Post Surgery Care

PRE AND POST SURGERY CARE

About 5-10% of Patients with severe GERD ( Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease ) may not respond to medical therapy and may require surgery called Nissen Fundoplication. After this type of surgery, careful management of your nutritional regime is needed, for 1 – 2 months.

Surgery to the esophagus, is often associated with malignancy (cancer) and may have resulted in weight loss, decreased appetite, and difficulty in swallowing.  Improving nutritional status before surgery is important, to prevent further weight loss, and to support wound healing. You may need nasogastric or nasoduodenal ( tube ) feeding and / or intravenous nutrition after the surgery in hospital.

 Should you need gastric surgery, for ulcer disease or cancer, it is really beneficial to do a nutritional consultation before admittance to the hospital, as nutritional complications after these surgeries are varied. ( for eg Dumping Syndrome)

After a removal of the gall bladder (cholecystectomy), understanding of nutritional care relating to fat% in the diet, as well as fibre, will assist your comfortable recovery.

 In Crohn’s disease surgery may be needed to repair strictures or remove portions of the bowel when medical management fails.  During your recovery time in hospital, supportive and appropriate nutrition care is important.

In cases where a significant part of the colon or the small bowel is removed, a colostomy (surgically created opening from the colon to the skin ) or  ileostomy ( surgically created opening from the distal small intestine to the skin ) may be placed, either temporarily until reversal is possible or in some cases permanently.

Should a part of the pancreas be removed, for pancreatic carcinoma, ( for eg Whipple procedure ) your nutritional care in hospital, and after discharge, is very important, to optimize recovery, and prepare you for further medical or oncology treatments.

Small bowel resection, may lead to a condition called short bowel syndrome, for which specialized Medical Nutrition Therapy is critical.

Orthopaedic patients, who unfortunately may have experienced ongoing revision surgery and recurrent infections, after hip, knee, shoulder or ankle replacement, may need Lautenbach irrigation therapy, for 2 – 3 weeks in hospital, and supportive protein therapy and nutritional care to minimize lean muscle loss.

The well documented ERAS (enhanced recovery after surgery ) principles, defined as the best care of the surgical patient, pre- and intra- and postoperatively, include important nutritional principles, such as support of the gut, to achieve improved recovery.