Impact of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Protocol on Perioperative Quality of Life in Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy: A Single-Center Prospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVES

Enhanced recovery after surgery is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary perioperative care program designed to minimize postoperative complications. Despite its widespread use in urological surgeries, the effect of enhanced recovery after surgery on the quality of life during robot-assisted radical prostatectomy remains unclear. We performed a prospective cohort study to elucidate the effect of enhanced recovery following robot-assisted radical prostatectomy on patients' quality of life.

METHODS

This prospective cohort study included 150 consecutive patients who underwent robot-assisted radical prostatectomy at a single institution. A total of 133 patients were analyzed after excluding those with incomplete data. The patients were divided into two groups: 32 in the non-enhanced recovery group and 101 in the enhanced recovery group. To assess the quality of life, patients undergoing robot-assisted radical prostatectomy completed the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Prostate questionnaire 1 day before and 1 month after surgery.

RESULTS

Patient characteristics did not differ between the two groups. No significant differences were observed in the preoperative Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Prostate scores between the groups. Perioperative changes in the physical well-being subscale for the non-enhanced recovery after surgery and enhanced recovery after surgery groups were -3.5 and -2.0, respectively (p = 0.0463). Furthermore, enhanced recovery after surgery was a significant predictor of a smaller perioperative decline in the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Prostate Physical Well-Being subscale score.

CONCLUSION

Enhanced recovery after surgery helps to preserve physical well-being during robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.