Restrictive Versus Liberal Fluid Therapy in Patients Undergoing Pancreaticoduodenectomy: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Study

ancreaticoduodenectomy (also known as PD or the Whipple procedure) is a major surgery often done for conditions like pancreatic cancer. Over the past few decades, doctors around the world have greatly improved surgical techniques, reducing the risk of death after PD from about 24% in the 1980s to less than 2% today in good volume hospitals.

However, even though fewer patients are dying from the surgery, many still face complications after surgery, such as infections, delayed healing, or other problems called as morbidities. These problems can affect 17% to 50% of patients.

One important factor that may affect recovery is fluid management - the amount of fluids patients receive around the time of surgery.

Traditionally, surgeons gave large amounts of fluid during and after surgery, thinking it helped keep blood pressure and urine output stable. This approach is called liberal fluid therapy. But giving too much fluid can cause swelling, weight gain, and slower recovery.

A newer method, called restrictive fluid therapy, gives smaller, more controlled amounts of fluid to avoid these problems. This approach is new and has shown good results in some studies however the exact role is yet unclear.

At our hospital, we usually use liberal fluid therapy and give fluids based on the treating physician, using these fluids or restricting them as per the treating physician's choice.

So, the study compares these two fluid strategies in patients having PD. Our goal is to find out whether using less fluid (restrictive therapy) could help reduce complications and improve patient outcomes when compared to using more liberal fluids.