Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Gynecology Oncology

The study design is a two-arm, randomized, controlled trial. The control arm will consist of standard conventional perioperative care. The intervention arm will consist of a protocol-driven ERAS program. All patients with a known or suspected gynecologic malignancy scheduled for open abdominal surgery from the gynecologic oncology clinic will be screened for study eligibility. Those eligible for the study will be approached for participation in the study and provided written informed consent.

Once enrolled, study participants will be randomized into two arms (control group and ERAS group) using block randomization (block size=6). Block randomization will be performed using an online randomization generator that can be accessed at http://www.sealed envelope.com/simple randomizer /v1/lists . Due to the requirement for active patient and provider participation, it will not be possible to perform the study with blinded participants and care providers. Study investigators responsible for data collection and outcomes assessment will be blinded to randomization assignments. Once randomized, patients will be seen in preoperative clinic and given specific preoperative instructions as dictated by their study group.

On the day of surgery, patients will receive perioperative care as per protocol, based on their assigned group.

During postoperative care, patients will be asked to fill out a daily diary to document their recovery progress, where they will assess their ability to meet the study milestones, as noted above (e.g. pain and ambulation).

Patients will be eligible for discharge once meeting all pre-defined discharge criteria, including: tolerating oral fluid and diet, pain controlled with oral pain regimen, have return of bowel function (flatus), are self-caring (able to dress, shower, and groom themselves), and are mobilizing independently. Assessment of these parameters will be made by gynecologic oncology clinicians.

After discharge, patients will follow-up in gynecologic oncology clinic at 2 weeks and 6 weeks postoperatively.

Both arms of the study will be protocol-driven, with checklists for patients, nursing staff, and house staff to help with compliance. Teaching sessions and dry runs will be held before trial commencement to clarify points of confusion and to reduce protocol violations.

Data collection on subjects will be performed throughout the duration of their enrollment in the study. Data will be abstracted for medical record charts from Enterprise Data Warehouse and corroborated with Power chart (Northwestern Memorial Hospital), EPIC (Northwestern Memorial Hospital Medical record system), and Surginet (Northwestern Memorial Hospital Surgical Medical Record System).

In addition to the demographic and clinical information that will be abstracted from the medical record, subjects will also complete a validated Quality of Recovery Survey (the QOR (Quality of Recovery-40 question survey) at 2 weeks post-surgery. Lastly, C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels will be determined from blood collected pre-operatively (to coincide with scheduled pre-operative clinic visit) and on post-operative day 1 (POD#1 (post operative day )], to coincide with scheduled POD#1 blood draw). Blood samples will be collected in provided, 10ml red topped vacuum collection tubes (no anti-coagulant). After collection of the whole blood, the blood will be allowed to clot by leaving it undisturbed at room temperature for 30 minutes. Clot will be removed by centrifugation at 2,000 x g for 10 minutes in a 4°C refrigerated centrifuge. Using a Pasteur pipette the liquid supernatant (serum) will be immediately transferred to collection tube and apportioned into 0.5 ml aliquots and frozen in liquid nitrogen. Samples will be batch processed for CRP and IL-6 levels by ELISA according to manufacturer instructions (affymetrix eBioscience Catalog Numbers: 88-7502 and 88-7066).

Inclusion criteria

• Women between the ages of 18-70 years
• Fluent in English language
• Known or suspected diagnosis of gynecologic malignancy (including ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancers)
• Scheduled for elective laparotomy
• Medically eligible for major surgical procedure

Exclusion criteria

• Unable to mobilize independently preoperatively
• The following populations will not be included in the study: adults unable to consent (such as the cognitively impaired), minors < 18 years of age, pregnant women, and prisoners.
• Emergency surgery