The Taipei Medical University Hospital yesterday said its enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) program including people older than 80 years significantly reduces postoperative recovery time and complications.
An 80-year-old man underwent a surgery for colon cancer, but thanks to the program he was hospitalized for only six days, the hospital said.
The man, surnamed Wang (王), said he was working in Vietnam when he experienced gastrointestinal discomfort for a period. After finding blood in his stool for longer than a week, he returned to Taiwan to take a fecal occult blood test.
Photo: CNA
The test came back positive, and a colonoscopy showed that he had stage two colon cancer, he said.
His doctor suggested he receive a minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery, he said.
Wang said his mother also had a colon surgery when she was in her 70s, but died shortly after her second surgery, so he was nervous about the operation.
The medical team clearly explained the ERAS program and treatment procedures to him, and he was able to eat and return home one day and four days after the surgery respectively, he said.
The hospital’s vice superintendent Wei Po-li (魏柏立) said about 10 percent of colon cancer patients are aged 80 years or older, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare estimates that the percentage would increase to 20 percent by 2040.
Elderly people face a higher risk of experiencing postoperative complications, he said.
The ERAS program has been introduced in several hospitals across the nation.
The hospital said it included people older than 80 in the program.
ERAS is “a multimodal perioperative care pathway designed to achieve early recovery for patients undergoing major surgery,” the ERAS Society’s Web site says.
Wei said the ERAS program includes preoperative physical training and nutrition support to prepare patients for the surgery, and careful anesthetic management during surgery to minimize the use of surgical drains and nasogastric tubes.
These allow patients to recover faster after the surgery, he said.
Many elderly patients are unwilling to leave their bed after surgery, the hospital said.
However, the hospital’s medical team encourage those who do not have special post-operative conditions to get up and walk around as soon as possible, as it can also stimulate intestinal peristalsis and prevent pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis and other conditions that might be caused by prolonged bed rest, it said.
The hospital said its ERAS medical team has analyzed data collected from 114 patients aged 80 to 89, comparing those in the program with others, and found that the program can reduce postoperative recovery time by an average of 30 percent, reduce postoperative complications by 25 percent, and reduce overall hospitalization duration by 40 percent.
Their findings have been published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society this year, it added.
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