ESPEN 2013 - Late breaking abstract submission

Late Breaking Abstract

ESPEN13-1819

NUMERICAL BENCHMARKS TO QUANTIFY A PATIENT’S PHYSICAL RECOVERY AFTER SURGERY

G. Miyata ^1,*T. Kato ¹T. Kamei ¹T. Nakano ¹S. Abe ¹K. Katsura ¹Y. Taniyama ¹J. Teshima ¹K. Naoshima ¹K. Takaya ¹T. Nakagawa ¹M. Zuguchi ¹M. Yamada ¹A. Sato ¹N. Ohuchi ¹

¹surgery, TOHOKU UNIVERSITY, Sendai, Japan

Rationale: The enhanced recovery after surgery protocol contributes to a better clinical outcomes, including decreased post-operative complications and a shorter hospital stay. Although patient recovery is often evaluated on the basis of their physical appearance, it is rarely measured on the basis of numerical benchmarks. In order to improve the existing protocol, a standardized numerical benchmark indicating a patient’s physical recovery after surgery should be established.

Methods: The medical records of 79 patients who underwent oesophageal excision at our hospital since 2008 to 2009 were retrospectively reviewed. Serum sodium, albumin, and C-reactive protein levels and lymphocyte count were chosen as parameters during routine clinical examination performed after surgery. These four parameters were scored under the classified rule. Total scores were then calculated to represent a specific physical condition on each day of measurement. The  scores were calculated before and 1, 2, 3, 7 and 14 days after surgery.  Early mobilisation, a part of the ERAS protocol, was applied for the 38 patients. On the other hand, this protocol was not applied to the 41 patients (control group). The unpaired t-test was used for comparison of data between the two groups.

Results: The total scores varied with clinical recovery after surgery. It decreased immediately after surgery and increased 2 or 3 days after surgery. Scores for patients in the early mobilisation group were significantly higher than those for patients in the control group on postoperative days 3  (7.8 vs. 6.8), 7 (9.6 vs. 8.8), and 14 (11.5 vs. 10.4).

Conclusion: A numerical index to evaluate a patient’s physical recovery after surgery is essential. Here we proposed an objective quantification score representing a specific physical condition after surgery, which could possibly be a benchmark for improvement in the quality of the postoperative care protocol.

Disclosure of Interest: None Declared

Keywords: assessmentERAS