Objective:

Although advances in surgical applications and anesthesia techniques have led to a reduction in mortality, hospitalization time and postoperative morbidity are still troublesome in patients undergoing major liver resection. Therefore, clinical care standards and postoperative strategies were revised. Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol or so called Fast Track Surgery (FTS) programs have been evolved and shown that they could be applied successfully for the improvement of perioperative care. It has been shown that organ dysfunction and morbidity and hospitalization time were reduced in patients who were applied ERAS protocol. Since there are few researches made on this subject in foreign countries and no research in our country, we conducted this study to show that hospitalization time is reduced in patients who underwent major liver resection together with ERAS protocol.

Material and Methods:

Forty patients included in this study, were divided in two groups: Control group (n=20) and ERAS protocol group (n=20). Two groups were compared regarding the hospitalization time. Besides, urinary catheter removal time, postoperative time to liquids and solid diet, mobilization, and time to return to daily activities were also assessed.

Results:

Control group and ERAS group were found to be significantly different in terms of hospitalization time. The mean hospitalization time was 11.4±2.84 days in the control group and 5.5±1.4 days in the ERAS group (p<0.001).

Conclusions:

Similar to the studies which applied ERAS protocol in the literature, it was shown that hospitalization time was reduced when ERAS protocol was used together with major liver resection.

Keywords: hepatectomy, fast track surgery, enhanced recovery after surgery