Enhanced recovery after surgery and intestinal obstruction: A scoping review

Acute intestinal obstruction is a blockage of the intestine which causes a range of clinical symptoms such as acute and severe abdominal pain, nausea, and obstipation. Intestinal obstruction is a medical emergency and can be life-threatening when left untreated. In cases where treatment involves emergency abdominal surgery, a multimodal perioperative care pathway (enhanced recovery after surgery ERAS) has shown to accelerate patient recovery after surgery, reduce hospital length of stay, and improve overall outcomes. The objective of this scoping review was to identify and synthesize the existing evidence regarding the implementation of ERAS components with a focus on postoperative components in patients undergoing surgery for acute intestinal obstruction.

This scoping review followed the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis extension for scoping reviews framework. PubMed-Medline and Embase database were searched.

The search identified 1860 studies of which 16 were included in the final analysis. All the studies were quantitative. Eleven studies used 10 or more ERAS interventions (range 10-28). The most common interventions were multimodal systemic analgesia, and the least common were the management of blood glucose and screening tools.

This scoping review found that 56% (n = 9/16) of the identified studies used 10 or more ERAS interventions out of a possible 35. This review highlighted the need for studies on the ERAS emergency laparotomy guidelines.