Enhanced Recovery Protocol Enhances Postdischarge Recovery After Laparoscopic Sacrocolpopexy.

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine if an ERAS (enhanced recovery after surgery) protocol enhanced the patient-perceived postdischarge recovery after laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, patients exposed to an ERAS protocol completed a preoperative survey that included established predictors of postdischarge recovery. Postoperatively, they completed the validated Postdischarge Surgical Recovery 13 (PSR-13) scale at 7, 14, and 42 days. A historical cohort of non-ERAS patients who completed similar surveys were included for comparisons. Characteristics between the 2 cohorts were analyzed using the χ2 test, Student t tests, and Mann-Whitney U tests where appropriate. A mixed-design analysis of variance model was constructed to determine if our ERAS protocol affected recovery as measured by the PSR-13 scale.

Results: Eighty-nine ERAS patients were compared with 169 non-ERAS controls. There were no differences in established predictors of recovery between the groups. Length of hospital stay was shorter in the ERAS cohort (33±13.1 hours vs 44.2±25.9 hours; mean difference, 11.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 6.44-16.0). Postdischarge recovery significantly improved with time (7 days: 52.7; 95% CI, 50.1-55.2; 14 days: 63.4; 95% CI, 60.9-65.8; 42 days: 80.1, 95% CI, 78.1-82.1). The ERAS cohort reported greater postdischarge recovery than the non-ERAS cohort (as measured by the PSR-13 scale) at postoperative days 7, 14, and 42 days (68.4 vs 62.3; mean difference, 6.1; 95% CI, 2.04-10.16).

Conclusions: Enhanced recovery after surgery protocols reduce length of hospital stay and enhance patient-perceived postdischarge recovery.