The application of enhanced recovery after surgery protocol after distal gastrectomy for patients with gastric cancer: a prospective randomized clinical trial.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes and efficacy of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol in patients undergoing distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer (GC).

Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to the ERAS group (EG) and the conventional care group (CG) by stratified randomization according to age and sex. The primary endpoint was adjusted postoperative hospital stay, calculated using discharge criteria developed to evaluate recovery. Nutritional data and quality of life (QoL) (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer [EORTC] C30 and STO22) during the perioperative period were also analyzed.

Results: We enrolled 198 eligible patients with GC for the study between June 2017 and January 2019. A total of 147 patients were finally enrolled in this study (full analysis set) and were assigned to EG (n = 71) and CG (n = 76). First flatus was faster significantly in EG (3.6 ± 1.5 vs 4.1 ± 1.2 days, P = .019). EG showed a faster start of the sips and soft diet than CG (1.3 ± 0.7 vs 3.1 ± 0.4 days, P < .001; 2.4 ± 0.9 vs 5.2 ± 0.7 days, P < .001) according to the protocol. The recorded hospital stay was not significantly different; however, adjusted hospital stay was significantly shorter in EG than in CG (6.5 ± 3.1 vs 7.8 ± 2.1 days, P = .005). There was no difference in morbidity, and no mortality occurred in both groups. EG did not show significant superiority in nutritional outcome and QoL improvement, except for pain scale in EORTC-STO22.

Conclusion: The application of the ERAS protocol could reduce the adjusted hospital stay without an increase in postoperative complications. There was no significant difference in long-term nutritional outcome and QoL of the 2 groups.