Point of care ultrasound of small intestine in patients undergoing laparoscopic bowel surgery: a prospective observational study

BACKGROUND: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is increasingly utilized in clinical medicine, yet its role in assessing normal postoperative bowel function remains underexplored, particularly after laparoscopic colorectal surgeries. METHODS: A prospective cohort study of 20 laparoscopic bowel resection patients was conducted, utilizing small bowel POCUS before surgery and daily from postoperative day (POD) 1 to POD 4. Small bowel width and a Small Bowel Motility Index (SBMI) were recorded in each examination. Statistical analyses involved repeated measures ANOVA to evaluate motility and width changes over study days. RESULTS: The small bowel motility index displayed statistically significant differences across the study days before surgery up to POD4 (P<0.001). Pairwise comparisons revealed significant differences between pre-surgery (10.58±1.31) and POD1 (8.20±2.30) with a mean difference of 2.38 (P=0.009). Subsequent days demonstrated significant differences between POD1 and POD3 (9.78±1.51) and POD4 (10.30±2.05) with mean differences of -1.58 (P=0.049) and -2.10 (P=0.029) respectively. In contrast, small bowel width did not exhibit statistical significance during this follow-up period (P=0.112). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the dynamic nature of small bowel motility, highlighting its potential as a crucial parameter for postoperative assessment. Further larger studies with vareity of patients are warranted to explore the broader applications of small bowel POCUS in postoperative care.