Urologic daycase surgery: A five year experience

Abstract

Background: Expectedly, daycase surgery (DCS) is today witnessing a boom in developing countries as a reasonable option in the face of global economic recession, although with limited scope.
Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the urologic day surgery experience at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
Materials and Methods: All day-case urologic surgeries done between January 2006 and December 2010 were retrospectively studied. Data obtained were patients’ personal details, diagnoses, procedures performed, mode of anesthesia, and surgical complications as well as admission rate.
Results: A total of 1070 operations were performed. The patients were aged 7 days to 92 years. Local anesthesia was employed in 42.2% while general anesthesia was used in 1.7% of patients, mostly pediatric cases. Caudal block anesthesia (55.8%) was administered for transrectal prostate biopsy and urethrocystoscopic procedures. The diagnostic and therapeutic urologic procedures in adults were mainly prostate biopsy (n = 344, 32.1%), urethrocystoscopy (n = 218, 20.4%), varicocelectomy (n = 143, 13.4%), and orchidectomy (n = 93, 8.7%). Mohan’s valvotomy was the most common pediatric operation (n = 19, 1.8%). Postoperative morbidities that warranted hospital admission were observed in 17 (1.6%) cases.
Conclusion: Urologic day surgery is feasible with minimal morbidities. The provisions of a dedicated day-case unit or a mobile DCS service may further improve on the volume of cases that can be operated on a  day-case basis and has the potential of further reducing the waiting time for surgery.

Key words: Daycase, surgery, urology