This issue of the Journal includes a set of articles covering a spectrum of topics relevant to Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®). ERAS and related programs are enjoying increasingly widespread adoption around the world and in a growing range of surgical subspecialties. Although enthusiasm for ERAS has reached near exuberant levels, it is important to remember that challenges remain in this field. In particular, there still is need for high-quality clinical investigation demonstrating the value of ERAS protocols in a variety of clinical settings and among diverse patient populations and for translational investigation delineating the biological mechanisms by which specific components of ERAS protocols exert their beneficial clinical effects. We hope the articles published in this issue are informative, stimulate discussion, and encourage such investigation. As close collaboration among surgeons and anesthesiologists is critically important to success of ERAS programs, we are fortunate that excellent contributors from both disciplines are so well represented in these articles.
