Objectives: To analyse whether the self-evaluation of a clinical pathway improves the results of rectal cancer (RC) treatment.
Patients and method: Patients operated on for RC were divided into 3 groups according to biannual modifications of a clinical pathway analysing several indicators.
Results: 166 patients: Group A: 2002-3 n=50, B: 2004-5 n=53 and C: 2006-7 n=63, without any differences in age, gender or comorbidity. Preoperative study improved with the introduction of CT scan: 76% in Group C vs. 6% in Group A (P<0.001). All Group C tumours were staged using MR, rectal ultrasound or both, compared to 84% in Group A (P<0.001). The rate of abdominal-perineal resections was reduced from 42% (Group A) to 17% (Group C); (P=0.007) and about 48% of surgeons in Group A vs. 94% in the C had a specific activity in coloproctology (P<0.001). The average lymph node count was: Group A=6.2+/-4.5 vs. 13+/-6.5 in the C and circumferential margin analysis was reported in 24% of Group A vs. 76% in Group C (P<0.001). Parameters such as perioperative blood transfusion, ICU admission, use of nasogastric tube, early feeding or epidural analgesia also improved progressively. Operative mortality decreased non-significantly to 4.7% and anastomotic leaks from 24% to 9.5% with a reduction in postoperative stay from 15 to 11 days during the period analysed (P=0.029).
Conclusions: Several indicators have significantly improved in a relatively short period of time due to self-evaluations of the process.