Alvimopan is associated with favorable outcomes in open and minimally invasive colorectal surgery: a regional database analysis.

BACKGROUND: Alvimopan is a µ-opioid receptor antagonist associated with shorter time to gastrointestinal recovery in patients having open colorectal surgery. Data demonstrating the benefit of perioperative alvimopan for the minimally invasive surgical approach are inconsistent. The aim of this study is to determine colorectal surgery groups that benefit from perioperative alvimopan.

METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort analysis of colorectal surgery patients who had, and patients who did not have, perioperative alvimopan in the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative regional risk-adjusted database from 2018 through 2021. Main outcome measures were postoperative length of hospital stay, time to return of bowel function, and postoperative ileus.

RESULTS: There were 10,010 patients (30.3% open, 40.5% laparoscopic, 12.7% hand-assist laparoscopic, 43.5% robotic) who met inclusion criteria-4919 received alvimopan in the perioperative period and 5091 did not. When compared to those not receiving alvimopan, unadjusted outcomes showed that the alvimopan group had significantly shorter postoperative length of stay (4.75 days vs 5.5 days, p < 0.001), shorter time to return of bowel function (1.61 days vs 2.01 days, p < 0.001) and less postoperative ileus (5.45% vs 7.94%, p < 0.001). After adjustment, regression models confirmed that alvimopan was associated with an 9.6% reduction in hospital length of stay (p < 0.001), a 14.9% shorter time to return of bowel function (p < 0.001), and a 42.1% reduction in postoperative ileus (p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed significant benefit of alvimopan for all three outcomes in patients having the minimally invasive approach.

CONCLUSIONS: Alvimopan is associated with shorter hospital length of stay, shorter time to return of bowel function, and decreased postoperative ileus when administered to patients undergoing colorectal surgery. Benefit is not limited to the open approach and includes minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic colorectal procedures.