Gynecologic Oncology Spotlight: Enhanced Recovery Pathways Improve Patient Outcomes
The postoperative care for ovarian cancer patients is difficult. There is the problem of too many patients being discharged too soon, causing subsequent readmission, complications, and patient dissatisfaction.
A proactive approach to this postoperative care has been established known as Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS). The protocols included in ERAS include aggressive anticoagulation therapy, minimal use of drains and in-dwelling tubes enabling early ambulation, and targeted pain management without opioids, using local anaesthetic epidural block. Wound infection is avoided by local cleansing of the skin prior to surgery and using negative pressure dressings.
Early ambulation, pain control, and prevention of infection improve the quality of life and also enable an earlier start to chemotherapy with hopefully beneficial effect.
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