Finetuning and optimizing an enhanced recovery protocol for liver surgery in the era of minimally invasive liver surgery: a single centre experience with 630 liver resections.

BACKGROUND

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) principles are increasingly applied in liver surgery. The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to evaluate the effectiveness of optimized clinical pathways in liver surgery in conjunction with patient adherence to the ERAS-protocol.

METHODS

Our centre implemented a first liver clinical pathway in 2015(CP1), followed by an optimized version in 2019(CP2). New ERAS-elements were introduced, such as no routine use of epidural analgesia and avoidance of surgical drains. More attention was paid to patient mobilization and resumption of a normal diet intake. Outcome measures included length of hospital stay, readmission rate, complications, and mortality. Adherence was measured by the percentage of patients who were discharged on or before the scheduled day.

RESULTS

630 patients were included in the study, of which 329 (52.2 %) followed CP2 and 301 (47.8 %) followed CP1. The length of hospital stay after surgery significantly reduced in CP2(2[1-4]days vs 4[3-6]days; P < 0.001), without an increase in readmission rate (5.5 % vs 4.0% p:0.38), postoperative morbidity (12.5 % vs 14.3 %; P = 0.50) and 90-day mortality (0.91 % vs 1.00 %; P = 0.58). Adherence improved significantly in CP2(67.8 % vs 55.8 %; P = 0.002).

CONCLUSION

The implementation of an optimized CP in liver surgery resulted in a shorter hospital stay and higher adherence rate to the ERAS-protocol.