[Ambulatory surgery. Organization and results. Apropos of a 5-year experience]. / Chirurgie ambulatoire. Organisation et résultats. A propos de cinq ans d'expérience.

Ambulatory surgery has been organized and regulated in France since 1991. We report the organisation of this activity in our unit and the results in 22,476 patients. Endoscopies, not specifically surgical, were 25.7% of procedures. Over night hospitalization was needed in 3.1% of patients, including about 40% of them for social and familial conditions or follow up of diagnosis or therapeutic sequences. This rate is growing, because we developed diagnosis or therapeutic sequences for interest of the patient. Since 1994, we operated more patients in ambulatory surgery than in classical hospitalization.

[Organization and results of the treatment of inguinal hernia by laparoscopy in ambulatory surgery. Immediate results]. / Organization et résultats de la cure de hernie de l'aine par laparoscopie en chirurgie ambulatoire. Résultats immédiats.

Since 1993, we have performed laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair by ambulatory surgery. We report the population of patients with inguinal hernia operated in this way from the first case operated by ambulatory surgery to May 1, 1996. The aim of this prospective and non controlled trial was to present the organization of our day care department and to report the results of our experience, comparing the ambulatory and hospitalized population, identifying the reasons why we decided to operate on an inpatient basis, assessing the rate and the reasons why the patient was kept the night after an initially scheduled ambulatory procedure. Four hundred and thirty three consecutive cures were operated during this period. 53.6% of patients were operated by ambulatory surgery, 89.4% of whom returned home at night. The reasons for an inpatient procedure were: bilateral repair in 25.2% of cases, medical in 16.4%, surgical in 20%, social in 13.5% of cases. The unilateral nature of the repair and the young age of the patients were two factors which led us to chose ambulatory surgery.