Effects of fast-track surgery on postoperative rehabilitation of patients with liver cancer / 中华消化外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects of fast-track surgery on postoperative rehabilitation of patients with liver cancer. Methods Forty-one patients with liver cancer who had been admitted to Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University from 9 to 30 in July 2008 were randomly divided into fast-track surgery group (n =20) and routine treatment group (n =21) according to the random number table. Patients in fast-track surgery group were preoperatively educated in order to lessen their anxiety. Bowel preparation was not applied before operation, and they were orally administered with 1000 ml of enteral nutrition emulsion (1300 kcal), then they were fasted for 4 hours before operation. Urethral catheter and gastric tube were removed after operation. They were orally administered with 1000 ml of enteral nutrition emulsion on postoperative day 2, and were encouraged to partake in off-bed activity shortly after the operation. The off-bed time, anus exhaust time, postoperative complica-tions, hospitalization time, expense, nutritional and metabolic indexes on postoperative day 1, 3 and 5, hepatic and renal function, immune and stress indexes between the 2 groups were compared by t test and chi-square test. Results There were significant differences in off-bed time, anus exhaust time, patients' weight, expense, total bilirubin level on postoperative day 1, 3 and 5, and level of serum TNF-α on postoperative day 3 between the 2 groups (t =7.065, 5.483, 3.754, 2.291,2.289, 3.218, 3.192, 2.434, 2.089, P <0.05). Conclusions Fast-track surgery can accelerate the postoperative rehabilitation of patients with liver cancer.