Impact of a Quantitative Early Activity Program on Gastrointestinal Function Following Laparoscopic Pancreaticoduodenectomy: A Single-Center Retrospective Analysis

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the impact of a quantitative early activity program, integrated into the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol on gastrointestinal function in patients undergoing laparoscopic pancreatoduodenectomy (LPD). Methods: Perioperative data from 203 patients who underwent LPD at the Department of Comprehensive Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, between January 2021 and December 2022 were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were categorized into 2 groups based on their nursing plans. Group A received the standard perioperative ERAS nursing plan, while group B followed the ERAS plan supplemented with a quantitative early activity program. We assessed postoperative outcomes including bowel sound recovery time, time to first anal exhaust, time to first mobilization, activity compliance 1-week postsurgery, and incidence of postoperative breakthrough pain. Result: We compared several postoperative metrics between group A and group B. Specifically, the time to bowel sound recovery was 62.39±17.89 hours in group A versus 56.45±22.85 hours in group B. The time to first anal exhaust was 78.88±71.99 hours in group A compared with 63.62±24.73 hours in group B. The time to first mobilization was 56.98±18.66 hours in group A versus 49.85±20.48 hours in group B. In addition, activity compliance 1-week postsurgery and the incidence of postoperative breakthrough pain (1.55±2.01 times in group A vs. 0.94±1.16 times in group B) were also compared. All these differences were statistically significant ( P <0.05). Conversely, the incidence of postoperative complications and the length of hospital stay (11.20±5.69 d in group A vs. 12.47±6.67 d in group B) did not reveal any significant differences ( P >0.05). Conclusion: The quantitative early activity program for LPD, based on the ERAS protocol, enhances the adherence to postoperative activity and decreases the incidence of breakthrough pain, thereby facilitating gastrointestinal function recovery in patients. This approach merits clinical adoption.