Effects of Walking Out From Operating Room on Postoperative Recovery of Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery

Postoperative bed rest increases the risk of complications such as thromboembolism and intestinal adhesion. Encouraging early mobilization after surgery should be important, although actual effects of early mobilization still need randomized control trails to prove. The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to investigate the effect of walking out from operating room (very early mobilization after surgery) on the postoperative recovery of patients undergoing laparoscopic colorectal surgery.

A sample size of 300 patients in each group will be selected by a prior power analysis on the basis of the following assumptions: (1) an absolute reduction in the length of the hospital stay by 1 day ( 9 days in intervention group and 8 days in control group), (2) standard deviation 3 days, (3) α=0.05, (4) power 80% and .(5) missed follow-up rate 5%.

Patients will receive written and verbal information about the trial before written consent is obtained. The randomization will take place before the day of the surgery and the patients will be assigned to either intervention (return to ward by walking) or control group (return to ward by lying on the transporting bed ). A stratified randomization with three factors including sex(female or male), tumor site (colon or rectum) and age (18-40 or 41-65 years old ) will be performed to ensure an even spread. The randomization is performed using concealed allocation where envelopes are prepared externally using a randomization list prepared by a statistician.

The patients will receive general anesthesia combined with epidural analgesia. After surgery, the patients will be evaluated whether fulfilling the criteria for mobilization including stable physiological parameters, consciousness, normal level of orientation and muscle strength, and painlessness every ten minutes. If patients fulfill the criteria, they will receive different methods of returning to the ward based on the grouping. In the control group, the patient will return to the ward by lying on the transporting bed. In the intervention group, the patients will be raised to a sitting position for five minutes. If the patients do not complain any discomfort and have stable physiological parameters, they will be encouraged to stand. If standing do not cause any discomfort, they will be encouraged to walk within the range of 5-meter long and 60-centimeter wide. If patients can walk within the range, they will return to the surgical ward by walking under the protection of medical staffs.

Then, all study patients will be subject to the same management such as the guidance of drink and diet recovery, the guidance of mobilization in the ward (the duration and distance of walking in the ward will be recorded every day), nutrition supplement after surgery, and the criteria of drainage removal and hospital discharge. The outcomes such as the length of hospital stay after surgery will be recorded and analyzed to evaluate the effects of walking out from the operating room. The analysis of Intention-to-treat and Per-protocol-sets will be both performed by statisticians.