Enhanced recovery after surgery in gastric cancer: which are the main achievements from the Italian experience?
In the last years, the concept of 'enhanced recovery after surgery' (ERAS) has become a routine in the perioperative care of patients undergoing colorectal resection. The application of ERAS programs in gastric surgery had a more difficult penetration into clinical practice, mainly for the introduction of radical changes in the traditional postoperative management. The aim of the study was to analyze the rate of compliance to a standardized ERAS protocol in different Italian centers and evaluate the results in terms of postoperative outcomes. From April 2015 to July 2017, a prospective observational study was conducted among seven centers participating in the Italian Group for Research for Gastric Cancer (GIRCG), in patient candidates to elective gastrectomy for cancer. A standardized ERAS perioperative protocol was approved by all centers. Compliance to the protocol was then evaluated and postoperative outcomes (morbidity and mortality rate, duration of hospital stay and readmission rate) were analyzed. Two-hundred and seventy unselected patients operated on for gastric cancer were enrolled. The median age was 73 years; 40.4% of patients were female; 24.1% had a nutritional risk score ≥ 3. Perioperative chemotherapy was used in 23.7% of cases. Total gastrectomy was performed in 57.4% of patients; minimally invasive approach was adopted in 28.1% of patients. Adherence to the protocol varied between 23 and 88% for single items. It was quite low for pre- and intraoperative items, mainly for items related to nutritional care. Postoperative complications occurred in 35.5% of patients, mortality was 0.7%. Median length of hospital stay was 8 days (range 4-72) and the readmission rate was 6.3%. There is a growing attention on the implementation of ERAS protocol for gastric cancer surgery, but several elements of this protocol are still not routinely adopted, among them items regarding nutritional care.
['Fumagalli Romario|Uberto|U|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6865-8971', 'Weindelmayer|Jacopo|J|', 'Coratti|Andrea|A|', 'Cossu|Andrea|A|', 'Gianotti|Luca|L|', 'Rausei|Stefano|S|', 'Sansonetti|Andrea|A|', 'De Pascale|Stefano|S|', '|||']
D000230:Adenocarcinoma D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D005260:Female D005743:Gastrectomy D019983:Guideline Adherence D006801:Humans D007558:Italy D007902:Length of Stay D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010359:Patient Readmission D019990:Perioperative Care D011183:Postoperative Complications D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic D011446:Prospective Studies D013274:Stomach Neoplasms D016896:Treatment Outcome
Enhanced recovery after surgery Gastric cancer Gastrectomy