Introduction Enhanced recovery (ER) pathways are well established in colorectal surgery. Application of the ER methods are becoming more common place in the field of hepatobiliary surgery.

Method A prospective database was maintained of patients undergoing liver or pancreas resections after implementation of an ER protocol. This data was compared with a historical cohort from before implementation of the protocol.

Results One hundred and three liver resection patients (88 open and 15 laparoscopic resections) and 67 pancreas resection patients (all open) were compared with 100 historical patients (50 liver resections and 50 pancreas resections). The overall length of stay was significantly decreased from 10 to 7 days after liver resection (p = 0.0293) and from 14 to 10 days after pancreatic resection (p = 0.0002) in patients following the ER protocol. The readmission rate was similiar pre and post intervention in both liver and pancreas resection cohorts (6.0% to 5.6% and 8.0% to 7.5% respectively). The overall mortality rate after implementation of the ER protocol was 0%.

Conclusion This series demonstrates a significant reduction in the overall length of stay following liver and pancreatic resections using an enhanced recovery protocol, without adversely affecting the readmission or mortality rate.

Disclosure of interest None Declared.