Impact of the introduction of an enhanced recovery pathway in esophageal cancer surgery: a cohort study and propensity score matching analysis

Abstract

Summary Enhanced recovery pathways (ERP) have the potential to improve clinical outcomes. Aim of this study was to determine the impact of ERP on perioperative results as compared with traditional care (TC) after esophagectomy. In this study, two cohorts were compared. Cohort 1 represented 296 patients to whom TC was provided. Cohort 2 consisted of 200 unselected ERP patients. Primary endpoints were postoperative complications. Secondary endpoints were the length of stay and 30-day readmission rates. To confirm the possible impact of ERP, a propensity matched analysis (1:1) was conducted. A significant decrease in complications was found in ERP patients, especially for pneumonia and respiratory failure requiring reintubation (39% in TC and 14% in ERP; P<0.0001 and 17% vs. 12%; P<0.0001, respectively) and postoperative blood transfusion (26.7%–11%; P<0.0001). Furthermore, median length of stay was also significantly shorter: 13 days (interquartile range [IQR] 10–23) in TC compared with 10 days (IQR 8–14) in ERP patients (P<0.0001). The 30-day readmission rate (5.4% in TC and 9% in ERP; P=0.121) and in-hospital mortality rate (4.4% in TC and 2.5% in ERP; P=0.270) were not significantly affected. A propensity score matching confirmed a significant impact on pneumonia (P=0.0001), anastomotic leak (P=0.047), several infectious complications (P=0.01–0.034), blood transfusion (P=0.001), Comprehensive Complications Index (P=0.01), and length of stay (P=0.0001). We conclude that ERP for esophagectomy is associated with significantly fewer postoperative complications and blood transfusions, which results in a significant decrease of length of stay without affecting readmission and mortality rates.