Clinical application of the fast track surgery model based on preoperative nutritional risk screening in patients with esophageal cancer

Objectives: To investigate the clinical application of the fast track surgery (FTS) model based on preoperative nutritional risk screening (NRS) in patients with esophageal cancer. Methods: 180 patients with esophageal cancer who underwent surgery between January 2008 and April 2014 were randomly divided into study and control groups based on matched-pairs. The study group underwent assessment using the NRS 2002 and received treatment before surgery and the control group was treated by the conventional method. Postoperative indicators including time to first exsufflation, time to defecation, time to chest tube removal, hospitalization duration, and postoperative complications were examined after surgery. Results: Compared with the control group, the postoperative indicators including time to first exsufflation (88.4 +/- 2.76 vs 57.83 +/- 2.68 hours), time to first defecation (4.68 +/- 1.71 vs 3.28 +/- 1.34 days), time to chest tube removal (4.30 +/- 4.25 vs 2.70 +/- 0.33 days), postoperative hospitalization durations (11.71 +/- 1.39 vs 9.00 +/- 0.78 days), and total complication rate (18.9% [17/90] vs 6.67% [6/90]) were all significantly reduced in the study group (p<0.05). Conclusions: The FTS model based on NRS can effectively promote postoperative rehabilitation of patients, reduce the incidence of postoperative complications, and shorten hospital stay.