Enhanced Recovery Protocols in Gynecological Surgery

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols represent a new era in surgical care in many different surgical disciplines, including gynecologic surgery. ERAS focuses on optimizing patient health prior to surgery and decreasing the stress response during and after surgery. This leads to benefits such as shortened length of stay, decreased postsurgical complications, and decreased readmission rates for patients. This narrative article summarizes current ERAS protocols developed for gynecologic surgery from leading institutions—including the ERAS Society, in Stockholm, Sweden, the American Society of Enhanced Recovery and Perioperative Medicine, (ASER), in Glenview, IL, USA, Duke, the University of Virginia, and Beaumont Hospital–Troy—and compares them to the current authors' protocal at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, in Tampa, Florida, USA. The article also discusses patient benefits of ERAS in gynecologic surgery through a review of studied outcomes, such as medical outcomes for patients, postoperative pain control, patient satisfaction, and cost savings to hospital systems. (J GYNECOL SURG 20XX:000)