Feasibility of the ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery) Protocol in Patients Undergoing Gastrointestinal Cancer Surgeries in a Tertiary Care Hospital—A Prospective Interventional Study

Surya Theja, Seema Mishra, Sandeep Bhoriwal, Rakesh Garg, Sachidanand Jee Bharati, Vinod Kumar, Nishkarsh Gupta, Saurabh Vig, Sunil Kumar, S. V.S. Deo, Sushma Bhatnagar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols have emerged as a promising approach to optimize perioperative care and improve outcomes in various surgical specialties. Despite feasibility studies on ERAS in various surgeries, there remains a paucity of research focusing on gastrointestinal cancer surgeries in the Indian context. The primary objective is to evaluate the compliance rate of the ERAS protocol and secondary objectives include the compliance rate of individual components of the protocol, the complications, the length of hospital stay, and the challenges faced during implementation in patients undergoing gastrointestinal cancer surgeries in our tertiary care cancer center. In this prospective interventional study (CTRI/2022/04/041657; registered on 05/04/2022), we evaluated 50 patients aged 18 to 70 years undergoing surgery for gastrointestinal malignancies and implemented a refined ERAS protocol tailored to our institutional resources and conditions based on standard ERAS society recommendations for gastrointestinal surgeries and specific recommendations for colorectal, pancreatic, and esophageal surgeries.Our study’s mean overall compliance rate with the ERAS protocol was 88.54%. We achieved a compliance rate of 91.98%, 81.66%, and 92.00% for pre-operative, intraoperative, and post-operative components respectively. Fourteen (28%) patients experienced complications during the study. The median length of stay was 6.5 days (5.25–8). Challenges were encountered during the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases. The study highlighted the feasibility of implementing the ERAS protocol in a cancer institute, but specific challenges need to be addressed for its optimal success in gastrointestinal cancer surgeries.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)304-311
Number of pages8
JournalIndian Journal of Surgical Oncology
Volume15
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2024
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 2024.

Keywords

  • Colorectal neoplasms
  • Feasibility studies
  • Length of stay
  • Perioperative care
  • Prospective studies

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article

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