Environmental impact of the enhanced recovery pathway in colorectal surgery: A simulation study.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Most of the literature on the environmental impact of surgery has analysed operating theatre practice in terms of its contribution to global warming (by greenhouse gas effects). The aim of this study was to assess the overall environmental impact of a complete perioperative pathway with and without implementation of an enhanced recovery programme (ERP).

Method

We compared two scenarios: an ERP scenario and a conventional scenario (CONV) for colorectal surgery. We carried out a lifecycle analysis for perioperative procedures, devices and consumables. We measured the impact on 17 environmental variables in addition to global warming.

Results

The overall environmental impact of ERP was 6% lower than that of conventional care. The reduction of impact due to ERP ranged

SUBMITTER: Slim K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11683321 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature