Recovery after enhanced versus conventional care laparoscopic hysterectomy performed in the afternoon: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To compare enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) and conventional care (CC) protocols on outcomes of laparoscopic hysterectomy (LH) performed in the afternoon.

Methods: A single-center randomized controlled trial was conducted on 120 women undergoing LH who were randomly divided into the intervention group (IG; n=60) and control group (CG; n=60). Women in the IG were treated according to the ERAS protocol and those in the CG according to the CC protocol. The primary outcome was the length of hospitalization. Secondary outcomes were postoperative opioid use, postoperative pain and emesis, complications, operative bleeding, and time.

Results: More women discharged during 24 hours in the IG than in the CG (88% vs 55%, P<0.001). The time to actual discharge (19 vs 22 hours, P<0.001) and ready-to-discharge time (15 vs 21 hours, P<0.001) were shorter and the use of oxycodone was lower (0 mg [0-0 vs 2.5 mg [0-10], P<0.001) in the IG than in the CG, respectively. Otherwise, no other significant differences between the groups were observed. The follow-up time was one month.

Conclusion: The ERAS protocol reduces hospital stay and decreases the use of opioids with no impairment in surgical outcome of LH. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03828981.