Table 4.

Effects of non-surgical interventions on DGE following pancreatectomy

Author	Type of study	No. of patients	Type of intervention	Results
Yeo et al. (1993) [106]	Prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial	118 • 58 • 60	IV erythromycin 6-hourly from third to tenth postoperative days vs. equal volume of 0.9 % saline	• 37 % reduction in incidence of DGE in the intervention group
Kollmar et al. (2008) [114]	Prospective, randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled trial	67 • 35 • 32	Prophylactic octreotide	• No effect on gastric emptying and incidence of POPF
Ohwada et al. (2001) [82]	Prospective randomized controlled trial	31 • 14 • 17	Low-dose erythromycin 8 hourly from POD 1 to 14 vs. H-2 receptor antagonists and gastrokinetic drugs after Billroth-I pylorus-preserving PD	• 75 % reduction in incidence of DGE in the intervention group • Decreased duration of nasogastric drainage • Early resumption of oral intake
Shan et al. (2005) [115]	Prospective randomized controlled trial	23 • 11 • 12	Somatostatin prophylaxis	• Incidence of DGE 82 % in intervention group vs. 25 % in the control group (p < 0.01) • Somatostatin increased the half time of solid phase emptying • Somatostatin reduced fasting plasma motilin levels and caused prolonged suppression of plasma motilin as compared to the control group