Colonic Surgery With Accelerated Rehabilitation or Conventional Care

BACKGROUND: For patients undergoing colonic surgery, the postoperative hospital stay is usually 6 to 10 days, and the morbidity rate is 15 to 20 percent. Fast-track rehabilitation programs have reduced the hospital stay to 2 to 3 days. The aim of this study was to evaluate the postoperative outcome after colonic resection with conventional care compared with fast-track multimodal rehabilitation. METHODS: One hundred thirty consecutive patients receiving conventional care (group 1) in one hospital were compared with 130 consecutive patients receiving multimodal, fast-track rehabilitation (group 2) in another hospital. Outcomes were time to first defecation after surgery, postoperative hospital stay, and morbidity during the first postoperative month. RESULTS: Median age was 74 years (group 1) and 72 years (group 2). American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was significantly higher in group 2 ( P 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Time to first defecation, hospital stay, and morbidity may be reduced after colonic resection with fast-track multimodal rehabilitation.