Oxytocin and Neonatal Jaundice

Bowel sounds were heard in 42 cases from group A compared with 13 from group B (X2 test, P <0 001). When it became likely that an effect was present (after 50 cases) the scope of the investigation was widened to include observations of the bowel sounds 30 and 60 minutes later by trained recovery room staff who did not know which drugs had been injected. Of 31 patients from group A, 24 had audible bowel sounds at the end of the operation and 25 half an hour and 29 an hour later; for 19 patients from group B the figures were 5, 19, and 17 resepctively. The first pair of figures show a significant difference (P< 0 001), but the remaining pairs do not. Moreover, in 11 cases, all from group B, the bowel sounds 30-60 minutes after operation were loud enough to be heard without a stethoscope. Hyoscine butylbromide evidently has too short an action to be useful in this context and the rebound contractions that follow its use can be more powerful than those caused by neostigmine and atropine alone. The use of hyoscine butylbromide should therefore be avoided during the immediate recovery period following anastomosis of bowel.