Researchers investigated the impact of an "enhanced recovery after surgery" protocol implemented at Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania for spine and peripheral nerve surgery patients, according to Medscape.
The study included 201 consecutive patients undergoing elective spine or peripheral nerve surgery between April and June 2017, who received the ERAS protocol. The researchers selected 74 patients as the control group, who received routine pain management with patient-controlled analgesia.
Researchers reported their findings at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons 2018 Annual Meeting held in New Orleans, April 28 to May 2.
Here are five things to know.
1. A comprehensive perioperative surgical pathway protocol, ERAS encourages the multidisciplinary management of patients. ERAS involves 16 care domains with several interventions.
2. Under the protocol, providers nearly eradicated the use of patient-controlled analgesia.
3. The University of Pennsylvania found ERAS reduced the postoperative use of opioids in its spine and nerve surgery patients. Patients under the ERAS protocol had a less need for opioids at one month compared to the control group, but experienced similar pain relief.
4. At one month, 61 percent of the ERAS patients were not using narcotics compared to 47 percent of the control group.
5. Researchers also found ERAS patients experienced shorter length of stays, fewer intensive care unit admissions, lower complication rates, greater discharge to home as well as lower readmission rates. They emphasized, due to the sample size, these results were not statistically significant between the groups, however.