Effect of perioperative accelerated rehabilitation management program for children with congenital spinal deformity

Objective: To explore the perioperative therapeutic effect of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) in children with congenital spinal deformity and summarize the clinical experience. Methods: Fifty-nine pediatric patients with congenital spinal deformities admitted to Beijing Children's Hospital from May 2020 to January 2021 were included in this study, and all patients underwent posterior spinal osteotomy orthopedic implant fusion with internal fixation. There were 22 males and 37 females, aged (7.4±4.1) years. Patients were divided into ERAS group (n=29) and control group (n=30) according to the management model. Patients in the ERAS group were managed with an accelerated recovery management model during the perioperative period, which mainly included: high protein diet, shortened fasting time, optimized anesthesia protocol, and multimodal analgesia. Patients in the control group received the traditional perioperative management model. The indexes of surgery, diet, pain score and laboratory tests were compared between the two groups. Results: All patients completed the surgery successfully. The mean temperature and pain scores of patients in the ERAS group were lower than those in the control group at 3 days postoperatively (P<0.05). The time to exhaustion and defecation in the ERAS group was (1.0±0.8) d and (2.5±0.9) d postoperatively, both significantly earlier than those in the control group ((3.4±0.8) d and (4.0±1.1) d) (both P<0.05). C-reactive protein was 38(8,46) mg/L in patients of the ERAS group on the day 3 postoperatively, which was significantly lower than that in the control group 47(22,93) mg/L (P=0.023). The hemoglobin level on postoperative day 3 was (110.7±9.6) g/L in the ERAS group, which was significantly higher than that in the control group ((104.5±11.4) g/L) (P=0.029). Postoperative complications occurred in 8(27.6%) and 9(30.0%) patients in the ERAS and control groups, respectively (P=1.000), with mild abdominal pain and bloating being the most common complications in both groups, most of which were not treated specifically. Conclusion: ERAS is a safe and effective perioperative management mode for children with congenital spinal deformity. Compared with the traditional method, it can significantly improve the treatment efficiency and deserve clinical application.