Patient-reported outcomes 6 months after enhanced recovery after colorectal surgery

Patient-reported outcomes 6 months after enhanced recovery after colorectal surgery

Deiss T, Chen L, Sarin A, Naidu RK. Perioperative Medicine (2018) 7:19

What is already known:

Many post-operative outcomes have been investigated and have been shown to be improved following implementation of an ERAS programme. The vast majority of these relate to inpatient stay and short-term (most commonly 30-90day) outcomes. Some studies have looked at longer-term outcomes including mortality and chronic pain and there is a strong association between chronic pain and opioid dependence.

What this paper adds:

This observational study identified a significant proportion of patients reporting persistent post-surgical pain (19%), dissatisfaction with their stay (14%) and hospital readmission (20%) within six months of their operation. These findings may suggest that a significant proportion of patients are suffering in the long-term following surgery despite being enrolled in an ERAS programme. The study did not, however, compare to outcomes before rolling-out an ERAS programme, nor did it give details of the programme itself. This study has demonstrated the potential for utilising automated telephone services as a screening tool for patients who may have experienced significant adverse outcomes postoperatively although they only achieved a 48% response rate. In an era where there is increasing concern over long-term opioid dependence, any methods which may help identify patients who have become opioid dependent should be investigated further.

Ben Morrison, Guildford. @blouism