Selection and Outcomes in Abdominoperineal Resection.

Since the initial descriptions of the abdominoperineal resection by Sir William Ernest Miles which was then followed by the perfection of the total mesorectal excision by Professor Bill Heald, the surgical management of rectal cancer has made tremendous strides. However, even with the advent and sophistication of neoadjuvant therapy, there remains a formidable amount of patients requiring an abdominoperineal resection. The purpose of this review is to delineate the indication and selection process by which patients are determined to require an abdominoperineal resection, as well as the oncologic and overall outcomes associated with the operation.

Optimizing an Enhanced Recovery Pathway Program: Development of a Postimplementation Audit Strategy.

BACKGROUND: Enhanced recovery pathways (ERPs) are bundled best-practice process measures associated with reduction of preventable harm, decreased length of stay (LOS), and increased overall value of care. An auditing procedure was developed to assess compliance with 18 ERP process measures and establish a system for identifying and addressing defects in measure implementation. METHODS: For a one-year period, the electronic health records of 413 consecutive patients treated on a multidisciplinary ERP for colorectal surgery at an academic medical center were evaluated with the audit procedure. Patients were stratified who both met the expected LOS, as defined by LOS less than the historical (pre-ERP) average LOS for the same procedure ("successes"), and exceeded the historical LOS ("outliers"). On the basis of the results of the audit process, a number of system-level interventions were developed. The results were then assessed for a three-month follow-up period to determine the impact on process measure compliance and LOS. RESULTS: Detailed review of outliers identified several defects that improved following implementation of system-level changes, such as early mobility after surgery (44.4% vs. 59.5; p = 0.02). Although increased compliance through selective process measure optimization did not lead to a significant reduction in overall LOS (days; 5.2 ± 5.0 vs. 4.9 ± 3.0; p = 0.37), the audit procedure was associated with a significant reduction in outliers' LOS (days; 12.2 ± 6.8 vs. 9.0 ± 2.1; p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Concentrating audits in patients who fail to meet expectations on an ERP is an effective strategy to maximize identification of defects in and improve on pathway implementation.

Initiating an Enhanced Recovery Pathway Program: An Anesthesiology Department's Perspective.

BACKGROUND: Enhanced recovery pathways (ERPs) for surgical patients may reduce variation in care and improve perioperative outcomes. Mainstays of ERPs are standardized perioperative pathways. At The Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore), an integrated ERP was proposed to further reduce the surgical site infection rate and the longer-than-expected hospital length of stay in colorectal surgery patients. METHODS: To develop the technical components of the anesthesia pathway, evidence on enhanced recovery was reviewed and the limitations of the hospital infrastructure and policies were considered. The goals of the perioperative anesthesiology pathway were achieving superior analgesia, minimizing postoperative nausea and vomiting, facilitating patient recovery, and preserving perioperative immune function. ERP was implemented in phases during a 30-day period, starting with the anesthesiology elements and followed by the pre- and postoperative surgical team processes. The perioperative anesthetic regimen was tailored to meet the goal of preservation of perioperative immune function (in an attempt to decrease surgical site infection and cancer recurrence), in part by minimizing perioperative opioid use. RESULTS: After six months of exposure to all ERP elements, a 45% reduction in length of stay was observed among colorectal surgery patients. In addition, patient satisfaction scores for this cohort of patients improved from the 37th percentile preimplementation to >97th percentile postimplementation. CONCLUSIONS: Development of an ERP requires collaboration among surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses. Thoughtful, collaborative pathway development and implementation, with recognition of the strengths and weakness of the existing surgical health care delivery system, should lead to realization of early improvement in outcomes.

Organizational Culture Changes Result in Improvement in Patient-Centered Outcomes: Implementation of an Integrated Recovery Pathway for Surgical Patients.

BACKGROUND: The goals of quality improvement are to partner with patients and loved ones to end preventable harm, continuously improve patient outcomes and experience, and eliminate waste, yet few programs have successfully worked on of all these in concert. STUDY DESIGN: We evaluated implementation of a pathway designed to improve patient outcomes, value, and experience in colorectal surgery. The pathway expanded on pre-existing comprehensive unit-based safety program infrastructure and used trust-based accountability models at each level, from senior leaders (chief financial officer and senior vice president for patient safety and quality) to frontline staff. It included preoperative education, mechanical bowel preparation with oral antibiotics, chlorhexidine bathing, multimodal analgesia with thoracic epidurals or transversus abdominus plane blocks, a restricted intravenous fluids protocol, early mobilization, and resumption of oral intake. Eleven months of pre- and post-pathway outcomes, including length of stay (LOS), National Surgical Quality Improvement Program surgical site infection (SSI), venous thromboembolism, and urinary tract infection rates, patient experience, and variable direct costs were compared. RESULTS: Three hundred ten patients underwent surgery in the baseline period, the mean LOS was 7 days, and the mean SSI rate was 18.8%. There were 330 patients who underwent surgery on the pathway, the LOS was 5 days, and the rate of SSI was 7.3%. Patient experience improved and variable direct costs decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Our trust-based accountability model, which included both senior hospital leadership and frontline providers, provided an enabling structure to rapidly implement an integrated recovery pathway and quickly improve outcomes, value, and experience of patients undergoing colorectal surgery. The study findings have significant implications for spreading surgical quality improvement work.

Enhanced recovery after surgery protocols for open hepatectomy--physiology, immunomodulation, and implementation.

There has been recent interest in enhanced-recovery after surgery (ERAS®) or "fast-track" perioperative protocols in the surgical community. The subspecialty field of colorectal surgery has been the leading adopter of ERAS protocols, with less data available regarding its adoption in hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery. This review focuses on available data pertaining to the application of ERAS to open hepatectomy. We focus on four fundamental variables that impact normal physiology and exacerbate perioperative inflammation: (1) the stress of laparotomy, (2) the use of opioids, (3) blood loss and blood product transfusions, and (4) perioperative fasting. The attenuation of these inflammatory stressors is largely responsible for the improvements in perioperative outcomes due to the implementation of ERAS-based pathways. Collectively, the data suggest that the implementation of ERAS principles should be strongly considered in all patients undergoing hepatectomy.