UAB Department of Surgery Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery Associate Professors Abhishek Parmar, M.D., FACS, Britney Corey, M.D, MACM, FACS, and Daniel Chu M.D., MSPH, FACS, FASCRS, have published a study on their experience with an enhanced recovery protocol for patients undergoing complex abdominal wall reconstruction.

The study “Retrospective Evaluation of Short-Term Outcomes of an Enhanced Recovery Protocol for Patients Undergoing Complex Abdominal Wall Reconstruction” is featured in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Abdominal wall reconstruction is a challenging operation used to repair extremely large ventral hernias. Traditionally these operations were performed with large open incisions that resulted in significant pain. At UAB, most of these operations are performed minimally invasive, with small incisions, and using new techniques that can help improve outcomes.

There is little scientific knowledge concerning the effectiveness of enhanced recovery protocols for patients requiring complex abdominal wall reconstruction. But past research shows that enhanced recovery can improve outcomes in patients recovering from other operations.

The authors reviewed their experience in 132 patients who underwent a complex abdominal wall reconstruction over a two-year period. They compared patients who received the minimally invasive procedure post-implementation of enhanced recovery to those before enhanced recovery implementation.

They identified a significant decrease in the length of hospital stay from an average of three days to one day on average with enhanced recovery. In addition, enhanced recovery patients needed fewer narcotic medications and had fewer complications overall.

The authors concluded that enhanced recovery can improve outcomes for patients who undergo minimally invasive complex abdominal wall reconstructions.

To read more about this study and its methods, click here.