Methods
Patients
Between June 2009 and February 2011, a total of 256 patients with gastric cancer underwent surgery at the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Kanagawa Cancer Center. The inclusion criteria for this study were (1) a histologically confirmed diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of stomach and (2) the receipt of elective distal gastrectomy or total gastrectomy with lymphadenectomy. We excluded patients who preoperatively received any chemotherapy or radiotherapy. We also excluded patients who underwent proximal gastrectomy or laparoscopy-assisted total gastrectomy because these procedures are not standard in Japan and are mainly used in patients enrolled in clinical trials. These surgeries themselves have not been confirmed safe and feasible yet.
All patients received perioperative care according to our ERAS program. Operations were performed by the same team of surgeons (three specialists and four trainees). In principle, patients with a preoperative diagnosis of stage I disease received laparoscopic surgery with D1+ dissection, and the others received open surgery with D2 dissection.
ERAS Program
In their Cochrane review, Spanjersberg et al. regard ERAS protocols as programs that include 7 or more of 17 ERAS items. Our ERAS program included 13 items.
Preoperative. Preoperative counseling was held in the outpatient clinic before hospitalization and in the ward after admission. Patients could eat a normal diet until dinner of the day before surgery. Magnesium oxide and a New Lecicarbon® suppository (Zeria Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) were administered on the day before surgery (Table 1).
Perioperative. Patients, excluding those who had gastric obstruction with decreased output, could drink two 500-ml plastic bottles of OS-1® (2.5% carbohydrate, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Tokushima, Japan) 3 h before surgery. Premedication was not administered. Anesthesia consisted of a combination of epidural analgesia (Th 7–11) and general anesthesia. In principle, no drain was used in distal gastrectomy, and one or two drains were used in total gastrectomy. The nasogastric tube was removed immediately after surgery (Table 1).
Postoperative. Day of surgery: A continuous thoracic epidural infusion of analgesics was given for 2 days after surgery. To prevent postoperative pain, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (50 mg flurbiprofen axetil) was administered intravenously twice daily after surgery until the resumption of oral intake. Postoperative day (POD) 1: Patients were encouraged to sit out of bed for more than 6 h. POD 2: Oral intake was started with water and a can of oral nutrition supplement (250 ml Ensure Liquid ®, Abbott Japan Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). After the resumption of oral intake, 300 mg of acetaminophen was administered orally three times daily. The patients were encouraged to walk the length of the ward. An antithrombotic agent (enoxaparin sodium 2 000 IU twice daily or fondaparinux 2.5 mg daily) was injected for 2 days 6 h after removal of the epidural catheter. POD 3: The patients started to eat soft food and were stepped up to regular food every 2 days (3 steps). The criteria for discharge were as follows: adequate pain relief, soft diet intake, return to preoperative mobility level, and normal laboratory data on POD 7 (Table 1).
The ERAS program evaluated in the present study was developed by a team of surgeons and anesthesiologists working in close cooperation with a data safety monitoring committee (DSMC). The feasibility and safety audit was completed by the DSMC in September 2009, when 50 patients had been treated according to the ERAS program. Our ERAS program in practice was approved both by the institutional clinical pathway committee and the DSMC. This study, a retrospective analysis, have been performed upon the approval of the institutional review board of Kanagawa Cancer Center. Informed consent for the ERAS program and using the clinical date without identifying personal information were taken before surgery.
Data Collection (End Points)
All data were retrieved retrospectively from the patients' database and clinical records. The primary end point was the incidence of postoperative complications. Complications were defined as ≥ grade 2 complications according to Clavien-Dindo classification within 30 days after surgery. Secondary end points were postoperative outcomes such as onset of walking, onset of oral intake, onset of flatus, onset of defecation, delay of meal step-up, reoperation, postoperative hospital stay, readmission, and mortality. We delayed meal step-up if the patient ate 40 percent or less of meals for 2 days.
Pathological findings were categorized according to the 7 edition of UICC-TNM. Continuous data are expressed as medians (range).