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Enhanced Recovery After Surgery pp 541–552Cite as

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery: Emergency Laparotomy

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Abstract

Emergency laparotomy is a high-risk surgical procedure with a mortality much higher than that of comparable procedures performed electively. Care of these high-risk patients has been characterized by variability in management and, until relatively recently, a lack of defined standards for best practice. An enhanced recovery approach appears to improve outcomes for patients undergoing emergency laparotomy as pathway components are defined and delivered within set time frames. The importance of timely action on key steps, such as rapid review and management of sepsis, is of particular importance in this group of patients, many of whom are elderly and present in a state of physiological derangement. This chapter will discuss recent developments in management of emergency laparotomy with reference to major studies and pathways with wide applicability. Large-scale audits of process delivery and outcomes have helped support awareness of the issues in delivering high-quality care for emergency laparotomy, and the role of audit and reliable process delivery will be discussed in relation to emergency laparotomy and enhanced recovery.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Carol J. Peden

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  1. Carol J. Peden
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Correspondence to Carol J. Peden .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden

    Olle Ljungqvist

  2. Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Higher Kingston, Yeovil, Somerset, UK

    Nader K. Francis

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women’s, Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Richard D. Urman

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Peden, C.J. (2020). Enhanced Recovery After Surgery: Emergency Laparotomy. In: Ljungqvist, O., Francis, N., Urman, R. (eds) Enhanced Recovery After Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33443-7_55

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33443-7_55

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