two-day postoperative hospital stay could be introduced,
but a high readmission rate of 20% was then noticed. This
fell to 11% if a three-day hospital stay was introduced
(Andersen et al. 2007).
The enhanced recovery concept with its corner stone
thoracic epidural blockades was introduced at our unit for
colorectal surgery in the late 1990s. It is now the standard
method for almost all patients whether they undergo laparoscopic
or open colorectal resections. The control of delayed
postoperative symptoms has received far less attention in the
literature than the control of acute symptoms.
The purpose of this study is to elucidate the postoperative
course after colon resections in the era of fast-track surgery
focusing on a longer period mainly from the patients’
subjective symptoms. As a secondary aim, after recognition
of the symptoms further improvements should be tested.