10th ERAS World Congress September 18-20th 2024, Malaga, Spain.

The 10th ERAS® World Congress was held between 18^th  – 20^th September 2024, at the Hotel IPV Palace Malaga, Spain.

The congress was jointly organised by the ERAS Society and Luis Sanchez-Guillen from the  Spanish organising committee: the Spanish Multimodal Rehabilitation Group (GERM).

As in previous years, it consisted of the ERAS® Educational Course on the Wednesday followed by the Scientific Programme on Thursday and Friday. Throughout the Congress, they were many excellent lectures from experts from around the world.

The ERAS® educational course was again a hugely popular event, and with the delegates learning about the relevant physiology underpinning the concepts of ERAS®. Similar to last year it was condensed into a morning course, allowing time to have a number of different break out specialty meetings in the afternoon. Which consisted of the nursing, ANP & AHP group (including a separate French nurses meeting), Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Cardiac, Urology group meetings. All of which were hugely popular and provided a great opportunity for different groups to discuss the various issues around their different specialities. This was followed by a highly enjoyable drinks reception, where everyone was able to network, view posters and meet with our sponsors.

The Main Scientific Programme started the next day, with an excellent session devoted to how we can improve standards in ERAS research. The talks focused on trial design, including pragmatic RCTs, large database studies and how AI may help perioperative research.

The prestigious Ken Fearon lecture was given by our very own Chair of the Scientific Committee Professor Dileep Lobo. He neatly summarised his twenty-five year experience and learning of intravenous fluids.

This was followed by ERAS advances in key specialities session on breast, colorectal, bariatric and urology surgery.

The afternoon session started off with the first of two innovative sessions – Avoiding pitfalls in research and secondly  – discrimination, equality, diversity and inclusivity in healthcare.

The day closed with some special topics (obstructive sleep apnoea, shared decision making and consent and ERAS in LMICs) and  the always popular best abstract presentations and rapid fire presentations.

The second day of the Congress began with an expert panel discussion on when ERAS goes wrong.

Followed by the Olle Ljungqvist Lecture, where Mehul Raval gave a fascinating lecture on the Environmental impact of Surgery.

The morning session continued with sessions on basic sciences (muscle-targeted interventions for sarcopenia, modulation of gut microbiota and short bowel syndrome) and important talks about how to improve outcomes in perioperative care.

The afternoon session started with Henrik Kehlet lecture.  Steven Wexner gave a fascinating talk on the value of standards in optimising outcomes. Fortunately Henrik Kehlet was on hand to present him with his award plaque.

Another innovative session followed, with an interview of two titans of the Enhanced Recovery world – the mastermind behind Fast-Track surgery Professor Henrik Kehlet and co-founder of the ERAS Society Professor Olle Ljungqvist.

The final session was on current controversies: post-operative insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity and prehabilitation.

Award winners:

Best nurse and Allied Health Professional Presentation: Adeline Chi – “A Singapore Study: The outcomes of fast-track nurse-led mobilisation in elective colorectal patients”.

Best e-poster of distinction: Erin Barrett – “Early urinary catheter removal after lumbar fusion surgery – a quality improvement initiative”.

Best rapid fire presentation: Shannon Crotwell – “Enhancing recovery after cardiac surgery: automated element auditing”

Best oral presentation: Marco Catarci – “Bowel preparationfor elective colorectal resection: Multi-treatment machine learning analysis on 6,241 cases from the perspective iCral cohort”.

There were many highlights of the Congress. The Henrik Kehlet,  Ken Fearon  and Olle Ljungqvist Lectures were all outstanding and thought provoking in equal measure. The new innovative sessions on equality, diversity and inclusivity, pitfalls in research and improving standards in research were also particularly well received.

The popularity of the congress continues to grow, with 421 delegates attending, and importantly representation from 41 different countries (including 2 from war-torn Ukraine).

We had 144 accepted abstracts presented as posters oral presentations and for the first time 30 e-posters of distinction. It is always exciting to see so many new people present their work , which was a very high standard this year. It is these talented researchers that will grow the evidence base which underpins the future success of ERAS®.

The huge success of the Congress is made possible only by the hard work of the Organising Committee and the Local Committee, to whom we express our sincere gratitude. In addition, we are most grateful to the sponsorship we receive from industry and the expert assistance from PRRI. We would also like to mention the outgoing Scientific Chair Professor Dileep Lobo who has done an amazing job of each and every one of the last 10 World Congresses. On behalf of the ERAS Executive Committee thank you again Dileep for all your hard work.

The 11th ERAS® World Congress is already being planned for, and the location will be announced soon and we look forward to welcoming you and your teams there!