Early postoperative ERAS compliance predicts decreased length of stay and complications following liver resection

What is already known:

Higher compliance (adherence) to ERAS pathways has been shown in different types of surgery to improve postoperative outcomes. Data on this subject in ERAS for liver surgery remain scant.

What this paper adds:

This before-and-after study from the University of Rochester Medical Center discusses the impact of early postoperative compliance to ERAS components on patient outcomes following liver surgery.

The study included 210 patients who underwent liver resection between 2016 and 2020 at a single academic medical center. Patients after ERAS implementation had shorter mean length of hospital stay than pre-ERAS patients (5 vs. 7 days, p=0.0014). The study found that patients who were compliant with 9 ERAS items on postoperative day (POD) 3 had a shorter length of hospital stay (HR 5.4, 95% CI 3.3-8-8, p<0.001) and fewer complications compared to those who were less compliant (12% vs. 39%, p<0.001).

This study suggests that compliance on POD3 with ERAS elements may be a useful predictor of patient outcomes following liver resection surgery. It highlights the importance of implementing ERAS programs and monitoring compliance to improve patient outcomes.

Reference

1. Burchard PR, Dave YA, Loria AP, Parikh NB, Pineda-Solis K, Ruffolo LI, et al. Early postoperative ERAS compliance predicts decreased length of stay and complications following liver resection. HPB (Oxford). 2022;24(9):1425–32.