Therapy which enhances surgical recovery: the potential for multimodality, fast-track surgery in the 21st century.

Hospital stay will be greatly reduced following major operations in the years to come. Already, minimally invasive procedures, selected anesthetic techniques and the use of appropriate pharmaceutical agents have reduced postoperative hospitalization. However, surgeons and their anesthesiology colleagues have combined many of these therapies in a multimodality approach, which has greatly shortened surgical convalescence following major surgery. The literature reports that patients can be discharged following recovery in 48 hours following a partial colectomy, in 1-2 days following pneumonectomy and in 4-5 days following knee or hip replacement operations. This multimodality approach appears to greatly reduce postoperative stress. Postoperative hospitalization will continue to be reduced throughout the coming century.