Enhanced recovery after colorectal surgery: an update on current practice

The concept of ‘enhanced recovery’ after surgery gained traction in the 1990s and has continued to evolve over the last three decades. It incorporates a host of evidence-based interventions into the patient care pathway and aims to eliminate those practices that were based in tradition and slowed the patient's recovery. The pathway is designed to involve the patient and the wider surgical team along with primary care and support services. Enhanced recovery pathways have been emerging for a wide range of surgical subspecialties and the principles are applicable to all non day-case surgical interventions. Enhanced recovery after surgery pathways can be divided for simplicity into preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative care and some of the important elements are described in this article along with the supporting evidence.