Early feeding after esophagectomy may be too early

The timing of resuming oral diet after esophagectomy is controversial, with little experimental evidence supporting the strategies of early (within the first 2 postoperative days) and conventional (after the fifth postoperative days). Weijs and colleagues have recently reported the results of a longitudinal study of feeding after minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy, comparing a group of 50 patients in whom feeding was started early to a retrospective cohort of 50 patients, in whom feeding was delayed until postoperative days 4–7. The primary endpoints, anastomotic leak and pneumonia, were not statistically different in the two groups, the authors conclude that immediate resumption of oral nutrition not increase complications compared to the retrospective cohort.