Abstract: Objective To investigate the tolerance of elderly patients to early oral nutrition after gastrectomy. Methods 117 patients with gastric cancer who underwent indirect gastrectomy from January 2017 to December 2020 were analyzed retrospectively.All patients received oral diet on the first day after operation.Patients were divided into older(>70 years) and younger(≤70 years) adult groups to compare short-term results and oral nutritional intolerance. Results Among 117 patients,21cases(17.9%) were intolerant to early oral nutrition,including 14 cases≤70 years old and 7 cases>70 years old.The most common symptom of intolerance is abdominal distension.The mean fasting time after intolerance was (2.8±2.4)days.The incidence of intolerance was 17.1% in the elderly group and 18.4% in the young group(P>0.05).There was no significant increase in intolerance in gender,surgical methods,lymph node dissection and tumor staging subgroups.The incidence of systemic complications was higher in the elderly group;There was no significant difference in anastomotic complications between the two groups(P>0.05). Conclusion There was no significant difference in oral nutrition intolerance between elderly and young adult patients.It shows that early oral nutrition can be safely used in elderly patients undergoing gastrectomy.

Key words: gastric cancer, gastrectomy, elderly patients, early oral nutrition, tolerance