Does Preoperative Oral Carbohydrate Reduce Hospital Stay? A Randomized Trial

Oral carbohydrate-rich fluids are used preoperatively to improve postoperative recovery, but their effectiveness for reducing length of hospital stay is uncertain. We assessed the effectiveness of preoperative loading with carbohydrates on the postoperative outcomes of 44 patients scheduled for elective colorectal surgery who were randomly allocated to a carbohydrate-rich fluid group or a usual care group during their preadmission clinic visit. Our primary outcome was the time patients required to be ready for discharge. Patients in the control group spent an average of 4.3 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2-5.7) in the hospital and patients in the carbohydrate-rich fluid group spent 4.1 days (95% CI, 3.2-5.4) in the hospital until they met discharge criteria (P = .824). We found that the safety of administering preoperative oral carbohydrate-rich fluids is supported, but we were unable to confirm or refute the benefit of this treatment regimen for contributing to shorter hospital stays after elective colorectal surgery.