ERAS and Postoperative Recovery in Gynecologic Patients: A QoR-15 Study

Assessing Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Intervention Impact on Postoperative Recovery in Gynecological Patients Using QoR-15 Questionnaire

The Quality of Recovery-15 (QoR-15) questionnaire is a widely used Patient-Reported Outcome Measure (PROM) for evaluating postoperative recovery, including pain, physical function, and emotional well-being. Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is a multidisciplinary care model designed to optimize perioperative management through standardized protocols.

For gynecological surgery, ERAS emphasizes preoperative education, early interventions (e.g., smoking cessation, anemia management, nutrition optimization), intraoperative strategies (e.g., fluid balance, nausea prevention, temperature control), and postoperative care (e.g., early mobilization, pain control, ileus prevention). However, while ERAS is gaining acceptance, its effectiveness can vary due to workload, patient variability, and institutional resources, and its superiority over traditional care remains inconclusive.

This study aims to objectively compare ERAS and traditional perioperative care using the QoR-15 questionnaire to assess patient satisfaction, recovery speed, surgical risk reduction, and complication prevention. Rather than solely promoting ERAS, this research seeks to evaluate its applicability, enhance personalized care, and provide scientific evidence for perioperative management optimization.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age between 20 and 80 years.
• Undergoing routine gynecological surgery, including total or subtotal hysterectomy, myomectomy, oophorectomy, gynecologic cancer staging surgery, cytoreductive surgery, and pelvic exenteration.
• Cancer patients with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of ≤2.
• Receiving either standard perioperative care or ERAS protocol-based care.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age below 20 years.
• Lack of decision-making capacity.
• Undergoing emergency surgery.
• History of clinical depression.
• Undergoing palliative surgery.
• History of chronic pain.