Readmissions after day care surgery in ENT: a tertiary care experience

Re-admission following day care surgery in ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) results in significant morbidity to patient and massive load to hospital and also raises the question on the safety of day care surgery. Only a small number of published studies emphasis on return to hospital within 30 days following day care surgery in otorhinolaryngology especially from our region. This study was carried out to determine the frequency of re-admission after day care surgery in ENT. Methods: We prospectively studied consecutive patients who underwent ENT procedures [i.e., septoplasty, tympanoplasty type I and functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) for deviated nasal septum (DNS), chronic suppurative otitis media tubotympanic (CSOM TT) variety and ethmoidal nasal polyposis (ENP) respectively] as day care surgery case under general anaesthesia at the Section of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Aga Khan University Hospital and Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi from January 2015 to December 2016. All patients aged 20-60 years of both genders were included in the study. SPSS software version 20 was used for data compilation and analysis. p-value less than or equal to 0.05 was taken as significant. Results: In the phase of 24 months, total 317 cases met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. There were 205 males and 112 females in the study population. One hundred and twenty-two patients having DNS, 128 having CSOM TT and 67 suffering from ENP and underwent septoplasty, tympanoplasty type I and FESS respectively. Complications were observed in a total of 7 (2.2%) patients in our study group and required re-admission within 1 month of surgery. Stratification was done between re-admission and all effect modifiers, with all showing insignificant results. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that ENT surgeries (septoplasty, tympanoplasty type I and FESS) are safe procedures which can be performed as a day care case with acceptably low re-admission rates. (author)