Effectiveness of a clinical pathway for inpatients undergoing ileal/ileocecal resection for chronic radiation enteritis with intestinal obstruction.

Abstract Surgery is associated with elevated morbidity and mortality in chronic radiation enteritis (CRE). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a fast-track clinical pathway (CP) on postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing ileal/ileocecal resection for CRE with intestinal obstruction. There were 85 patients with CRE (January 2011 to March 2013) with intestinal obstruction admitted to our department for ileal/ileocecal resection. The patients were divided into a prepathway group and a pathway group. The clinical outcomes were then assessed and compared. The postoperative lengths of hospital stay were 8.52 days for the pathway group and 11.32 days for the prepathway group (P = 0.02). The pathway group had a lower stoma rate (21.6 vs 56%, P = 0.033) and fewer postoperative moderate to severe complications (8.1 vs 25%, P = 0.043) compared with the prepathway group. Implementation of the CP may reduce stoma rate, postoperative moderate to severe complications, and postoperative length of hospital stay for patients undergoing ileal/ileocecal resection for the treatment of CRE with intestinal obstruction.