Despite the many benefits of ambulatory surgery, there remain inherent risks associated with any surgical care environment that have the potential to jeopardize patient safety. This practice advisory provides an overview of the preoperative steps that should be completed to ensure appropriate patient selection for ambulatory surgery settings. In conjunction, this advisory identifies several phy...

OBJECTIVES The Asymptomatic Cardiac Ischemia Pilot (ACIP) study showed that revascularization is more effective than medical therapy in suppressing cardiac ischemia at 12 weeks. This report compares the relative efficacy of coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass graft surgery in suppressing ambulatory electrocardiographic (ECG) and treadmill exercise cardiac ischemia between 2 and 3 mon...

BACKGROUND The incidence of obesity has increased over the past 2 decades. In recent years, several studies have assessed perioperative outcomes in obese patients undergoing ambulatory surgery. However, this evidence has not been reviewed and evaluated systematically. METHODS We conducted a systematic review of studies published between 1948 and May 2012, assessing perioperative outcome in ad...

BACKGROUND Hemorrhoid surgery is mostly being performed as an inpatient procedure under general or regional anesthesia. However, there was a trend toward performing anorectal surgery in an ambulatory setting utilizing local anesthesia. OBJECTIVE To propose an easy technique of perianal block for ambulatory hemorrhoidectomy. MATERIAL AND METHOD Between January 2004 and June 2007, 61 patients...

BACKGROUND Ambulatory surgery plays an important role in pediatric anesthesia. However, it is difficult to predict which patients will experience complications. Age >80, ASA class 3 or 4, duration of surgery >3 h, and BMI 30-35 are independent predictors of unanticipated admission in adults. In this study, we retrospectively evaluate risk factors for unanticipated admission, following ambulator...

Ambulatory inguinal hernia repair is the commonest day case general surgery operation. The present study was conducted to evaluate factors influencing the contemporary pattern of convalescence following ambulatory inguinal hernia repair in Hong Kong. A total of 271 consecutive ambulatory inguinal hernia repairs were performed at a day surgery centre from December 1995 to December 1998. The conv...

Surgery is an integral part of dermatology practice, one which we use to treat diseases and conditions affecting the skin and soft tissues, including mucosas and skin appendages, whenever those conditions cannot be treated medically and therefore require surgical intervention. Dermatologic surgery comprises 4 general areas: oncologic, general, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgery. Major outpati...