Evidence based medicine underpinning the ERAS protocol in elective colorectal patients: A mini review
Roisin Taplin, Gavin David O’Connor*
Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, University Hospital Limerick, Ireland
Introduction: The enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol is a set of international guidelines developed with the purpose of decreasing the hospital stay of a patient undergoing elective colorectal surgery. The ERAS protocol outlines a variety of measures that should be taken throughout a patients’ surgical stay, including at the first meeting in the preoperative phase, perioperatively and postoperatively.
Methods: PubMed database was accessed with the aim of finding relevant material on the subject of the ERAS protocol and colorectal surgery, and the outcomes for patients pre and post implementation of the ERAS protocol. The keywords chosen included ERAS protocol, implementation and colorectal surgery. Filters included access to full free text, available in English, published in the last 5 years and included clinical trials, meta-analysis, randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews. This returned 32 results of which 9 articles were included. These nine articles were reviewed and the outcomes pre and post implementation of the ERAS protocol were examined.
Results: The opinion of all the articles reviewed recommend implementation of the ERAS protocol. Each site reported improvements in various factors from length of stay, to post op complications and patient satisfaction. Implementation of ERAS protocols in elective colorectal surgery is associated with improved outcomes.
Conclusion: The ERAS protocol is a highly effective protocol for patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. It has proven benefit in terms of decreased postoperative complications, and reduced length of hospital stay. The ERAS protocol has been successfully implemented in a variety of hospitals around the world with great effect. Future research should focus on the implementation of the protocol on other patient demographics, such as patients undergoing emergency colorectal surgery to explore its benefits in such situations.
DOI: 10.29245/2768-5365/2025/1.1156 View / Download Pdf