Compliance with the enhanced recovery after surgery protocol and prognosis after colorectal cancer surgery: A prospective cohort study

We explored the effects of different levels of compliance with an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol on the short-term prognosis of patients who underwent colorectal cancer surgery. We conducted a single-center prospective cohort study in which 254 patients who received surgical treatment in a teaching tertiary care hospital were enrolled from March 2016 to November 2016. The patients were divided into four groups (I, II, III, and IV) based on individual compliance rates; the corresponding range of compliance rates was 0-60%, 60-70%, 70-80%, and 80-100%, and the number of patients in each group was 66, 63, 53, and 72, respectively. In the four groups from low to high compliance with ERAS (group I, II, III, and IV), the incidence of surgical site infections was 24.2%, 20.6%, 9.4%, and 6.9% (P < 0.05); the overall incidence of postoperative complications was 41.3%, 33.3%, 26.4%, and 16.7% (P < 0.05); the median length of postoperative hospital stay (in days) was 12.5, 10, 9, 8 (P < 0.05); and the median total hospital cost (Chinese Yuan) was 71,733, 73,632, 65,861, and 63,289 (P < 0.05), respectively. These results suggest that higher compliance with the ERAS protocol was associated with a lower incidence of surgical site infections, lower overall postoperative complication rate, shorter postoperative hospital stays, and lower total hospital costs.