Journal Article

Enhanced recovery after surgery – ERAS in elective craniotomies-a non-randomized controlled trial

Nayak, Sukdev, Sahu, R. N., Elayat, Anirudh, Jena, Sritam S., Tripathy, Swagata

2021

Overview

Background Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is a multimodal perioperative care bundle aimed at the early recovery of patients. Well accepted in gastric and pelvic surgeries, there is minimal evidence in neurosurgery and neurocritical care barring spinal surgeries. We wished to compare the length of intensive care unit (ICU) or high dependency unit (HDU) stay of patients undergoing elective craniotomy for supratentorial neurosurgery: ERAS protocol versus routine care. The secondary objective was to compare the postoperative pain scores, opioid use, glycemic control, and the duration of postoperative hospital stay between the two groups. Methods In this pragmatic non-randomized controlled trial (CTRI/2017/07/015451), consenting adult patients scheduled for elective supratentorial intracranial tumor excision were enrolled prospectively after institutional ethical clearance and consent. Elements-of-care in the ERAS group were- Preoperative –family education, complex-carbohydrate drink, flupiritine; Intraoperative – scalp blocks, limited opioids, rigorous fluid and temperature regulation; Postoperative- flupiritine, early mobilization, removal of catheters, and initiation of feeds. Apart from these, all perioperative protocols and management strategies were similar between groups. The two groups were compared with regards to the length of ICU stay, pain scores in ICU, opioid requirement, glycemic control, and hospital stay duration. The decision for discharge from ICU and hospital, data collection, and analysis was by independent assessors blind to the patient group. Results Seventy patients were enrolled. Baseline demographics – age, sex, tumor volume, and comorbidities were comparable between the groups. The proportion of patients staying in the ICU for less than 48 h after surgery, the cumulative insulin requirement, and the episodes of VAS scores > 4 in the first 48 h after surgery was significantly less in the ERAS group – 40.6% vs. 65.7%, 0.6 (±2.5) units vs. 3.6 (±8.1) units, and one vs. ten episodes ( p  = 0.04, 0.001, 0.004 respectively). The total hospital stay was similar in both groups. Conclusion The study demonstrated a significant reduction in the proportion of patients requiring ICU/ HDU stay > 48 h. Better pain and glycemic control in the postoperative period may have contributed to a decreased stay. More extensive randomized studies may be designed to confirm these results. Trial registration Clinical Trial Registry of India ( CTRI/2018/04/013247 ), registered retrospectively on April 2018.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adult / Anesthesia / Catheters / Complex carbohydrate / Consent / Craniotomy / Craniotomy - methods / Critical care / Demography / Elective surgery / Enhanced Recovery After Surgery / Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) / Evaluation / Evidence-based practice / Female / Fentanyl / Glycemic control / Hospitals / Humans / India / Insulin / Intensive care / Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data / Male / Medical protocols / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Middle Aged / Neurochemistry / Neurocritical care / Neurology / Neurosurgery / Neurosurgery and neurocritical care / Nurses / Opioids / Pain / Patient outcomes / Patients / Perioperative care / Perioperative care bundle / Physicians / Postoperative Complications - epidemiology / Pre-emptive analgesia / Prospective Studies / Recovery (Medical) / Research Article / Scalp / Success / Surgery / Surgery, Elective / Teams