Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS): good for now, but what about the future?

Excerpt

The concept of multimodal postoperative recovery programs, i.e., Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) programs or “fast-track surgery”, was fostered more than 15 years ago when it was realized that unimodal interventions were futile for addressing the problem of multimodal perioperative morbidity.1 Due to initial successful results, the concept has now been accepted worldwide and across most surgical specialities. During this process, the ERAS Society (http://​www.​erassociety.​org) has played an important role in helping to provide guidelines, educational meetings, and additional support. Therefore, based on the success of ERAS programs, it might be considered acceptable to lean back and be satisfied with the recent progress. Then again, an invitation from the Journal to publish a personal editorial view on ERAS – by someone involved from the early development phase of the program – presents an opportunity for a critical reassessment of the basic ideas behind the concept and whether we have achieved our initial objectives. …