Jayachandran C.G. 1 , Naiji S. James2 , Ushakumari P.R. 3
BACKGROUND Day-care surgery in all the surgical specialities has become an accepted and popular method among the health care personnel and patients. Lesser demand for in-patient beds and lower cost of hospital stay are making this therapeutic modality more acceptable. Current concepts in anaesthesia, availability of newer anaesthetic drugs and surgical methods have helped in achieving progress of daycare surgeries. Pre-anaesthetic evaluation of patients determine their fitness for day-care anaesthesia and surgery, and at times guide the anaesthesiologist in formulating appropriate plans and strategies. We wanted to observe the demography of patients undergoing day-care surgery and estimate the proportion of complication free outcome among day-care ENT procedures following preanaesthetic evaluation. METHODS 96 patients aged between 18 and 60 years undergoing day-care ENT surgeries for which pre-anaesthetic evaluation was done were included. Demographic data was obtained, thorough pre-anaesthetic evaluation and detailed clinical ENT examination were done. Nature of anaesthesia given, duration of the surgery and severity of the postoperative pain were recorded. Analgesic protocol undertaken during recovery period and associated symptoms were recorded. RESULTS Out of 96 patients 55 (57.29) were males and 41 (42.70 %) were females with a male to female ratio of 1.4:1. The mean age was 31.50 ± 4.15 years. 32 / 96 (33.33 %) ear surgeries, 26 / 96 (27.08 %) nose surgeries, 22 / 96 (22.91 %) throat surgeries and 16 / 96 (16.66 %) head and neck surgeries were performed. The smallest mean duration of surgery was 13.30 ± 02.5 minutes for removal of foreign body in the ear and the largest mean duration of surgery was for cortical mastoidectomy, 91.65 ± 6.20 minutes. Postoperative pain was present in 93 / 96 (96.87 %) of the patients varying from class I to class V of Verbal Pain Intensity Score (VPIS). CONCLUSIONS To manage patients undergoing day-care surgeries, efficient pre-anaesthetic evaluation is essential. It should include proper selection of patients, assessing the nature of surgery, analysis of comorbid conditions, counselling patients regarding type of anaesthesia and postoperative pain management. The postoperative pain and associated symptoms should be assessed and monitored periodically and should be managed by trained health care personnel to avoid unplanned overnight stays.
