Preoperative Benefits with Accelerated Recovery on Patients Operated on for Colon Cancer by Elective Surgery

Abstract

Introduction: With the introduction of the accelerated recovery program in the general surgery service of Dr. Mario Muñoz Monroy Military Hospital of the Army (Matanzas, Cuba), changes have occurred in the perioperative care of the patient with elective surgery for colon cancer. It is of vital importance to know its benefits with respect to the traditional procedure from the moment the surgical intervention is decided.

Objective: To assess the benefits of accelerated recovery in patients undergoing elective colon surgery.

Methods: An analytical case-control study was carried out during the period from January 2015 to December 2019. The case group completed 12 perioperative actions defined by the accelerated recovery program, while the control group followed the traditional procedure. A bivariate analysis of chi-square and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval was performed.

Results: With the implementation of the accelerated recovery program from the preoperative period, patients arrived at surgery with adequate functional capacity and compensation of their comorbidities. This behavior favored postoperative evolution, reduced complications by 33% (OR: 0.05) and hospital stay by 5.67 days (OR: 2) [10.4-5.1].

Conclusions: With the accelerated recovery procedure in their preoperative period, patients received benefits associated with reduced surgical stress, greater physiological reserves and better postoperative recovery. Hospital stay is significantly associated with patient age, comorbidities and number of comorbidities.