Feasibility of day care surgery in proctology.

BACKGROUND Proctological surgery is being carried out increasingly on an outpatient basis. The reasons for this are safe anesthetic procedures, short operation times and low complication rates. This study is a retrospective analysis of complication rates, symptom recurrence and long-term results according to outpatient proctologic surgery practiced in our hospital in the last 10 years. MATERIAL AND METHOD A total of 2840 patients were operated and followed up. The procedures included hemorrhoidectomy, anal fistulotomy, sphincterotomy, and removal of rectal polyps, pilonidal sinotomy and anal stricturotomy. Procedures were performed either under short-term general anesthesia or regional block. RESULTS Mean hospital stay was 7.3 hours (range 4-21 hours). The overall complication rate was 2.5%, which included bleeding, urinary retention, infection, continence disturbance and recurrence. CONCLUSION Outpatient proctological surgery can be safely performed with a low recurrence and complication rate while offering a high level of patient acceptance and satisfaction. However, an appropriate diagnosis of the disease, proper selection of the patients with respect to their suitability for surgery and a round-the-clock availability of patient communication with the nursing staff are a must for the successful outcome of the procedure.