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New post-operative care approach yields successful results

A new post-operative care procedure will now be permanently instituted at the University Hospital, following the release in December of a seven-year study led by Assoc. Surgery Prof. Dr. Todd Bauer. The research found that patients saw drastically shorter hospital stays and reduced costs after receiving a Whipple — a major surgery which treats pancreatic tumors — if meticulous care was taken during the patient’s early rehabilitation post-op.

During the seven-year analysis, the team boasted a 0 percent mortality rate and very few serious complications. The procedure also reduced the recovery time for patients to six or seven days. “[The data represent] outcomes that are among the best anywhere in the world for one of the most complex and difficult surgical procedures,” Bauer said in an email. “Most other centers — even the other top-tier academic medical centers — have an average length of stay of 10-14 days.”

The team’s success was attributed to several key guidelines, including a meticulous approach during surgery, careful post-operative timelines and milestones for patient recovery, and education of the patient prior to surgery about what to expect throughout the recovery process.

The team is currently researching other potential post-operative guidelines for different pancreatic and liver surgeries, but the process could take years for hospital committees to approve, Bauer said.

“Despite the fact that these pathways have been shown to improve patient care for many types of surgical procedures, they are only developed and utilized for a minority of procedures,” he said.

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