Effect of Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) Protocol on Maternal Outcomes Following Caesarean Delivery

Background: Caesarean Section is a commonly performed surgical procedure in obstetric practice, with its incidence rising every year. This increase has led to higher bed occupancy and cost burdens. Conventional Caesarean Sections have several drawbacks, including patients being kept nil per oral overnight before surgery and for 12-24 hours after surgery, immobilization for up to 24 hours or more, continuation of catheter use for 24 hours or more, and the use of opioid-based anesthetics. To address these issues, Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) has been introduced. ERAS consists of multimodal pathways during the pre-, intra-, and post-operative periods. Numerous clinical trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses have shown that applying ERAS in Caesarean delivery reduces the length of hospital stay, decreases the use of opioid-based anesthetics, improves patient satisfaction, reduces post-operative pain scores, and increases compliance with breastfeeding. Objectives: To determine the outcome of Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) pathway in Caesarean Delivery. Methodology: This was a prospective observational study conducted at Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital. Total duration of study period was 3 months from July 2024 to September 2024. A total of 106 patients meeting the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Those receiving care as per the ERAS protocols and standard conventional protocols were observed throughout pre, intra and post-operative period. The two groups were compared in terms of demographic characteristics, intravenous fluid requirement, duration of surgery, length of hospital stay, post-operative pain scores and other post-operative characteristics such as nausea, vomiting, headache, urinary retention, hospital readmission and neonatal outcome. Results: Total of 106 patients were included in the study with 53 in each of ERAS and SC group. In this study, there was no statistical difference in age group, Body Mass Index (BMI), co morbid conditions, gravidity, duration of gestation, indication of CS, duration of surgery and estimated blood loss. The average amount of intravenous fluid required intra operatively in ERAS group was 1350 ml and in SC group was 1650 ml with difference of 300 which was statistically significant, p < .001. The mean length of post-operative hospital stay was 54 hrs. in ERAS group and 71 hrs. in SC group with difference of 17 hrs. which was statistically significant with p = 0.023. The mean post-operative score in ERAS group on Day 0, Day 1 and Day 2 were lower than in SC group with p value < .001. There was no significant difference in post-operative complications between two groups. Conclusion: This study showed that implementation of ERAS protocol is associated with decrease in intra operative fluid requirement, decrease in post-operative length of hospital stay and is associated with significant difference in post-operative pain with use of multi modal analgesia. ERAS can be implemented in Caesarean delivery for addressing the issues of prolonged immobilization, delayed discharge, increased bed occupancy and many more issues associated with it.