[Feasibility study of septoplasties and septorhinoplasties in ambulatory surgery].

Objectives: Feasibility assessment of septoplasty and septorhinoplasty as ambulatory procedures, from analysis of the activity of a university ENT department.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis over 2 years. The demographic data, the distance between the patient's home and the ENT department, the cause of the septal deviation, the exact kind of surgery, the time of the beginning of the anaesthesia, the duration of the surgery, the postoperative data, the complications and the duration of hospitalization were collected. The operating durations were compared according to the sex, to the cause of the septal deviation, to previous surgery or not and to the kind of surgery performed, using Mann-Whitney's test. The correlations between the age, the operating duration and the time of the beginning of the anaesthesia were estimated using Spearman's test. Then, all the criteria of eligibility for an ambulatory surgical procedure were applied to this population, taking into account or not the distance between the patient's home and the ENT department. A financial analysis was realized on the eligible population, comparing the earnings for a traditional hospitalization with an ambulatory one.

Results: 424 patients were included, with an average age of 38 years old. 47 patients had an anaesthetic contraindication for the ambulatory surgery. 226 nasoseptal deviations were congenital (53.3%) and 198 post-traumatic (46.7%). 353 patients had never had a nasoseptal surgery (83.25%). The average time of the beginning of the anaesthesia was 10:55 am. The average durations were 75.8 +/- 32 min for septoplasty versus 127.5 +/- 44 min for the other acts (p < 10-5). There was a strong statistical difference of operating durations between a first surgery and a secondary surgical revision; as well as between a congenital cause and post-traumatic one (p < 10-5). There was an inverse correlation between the age and the operating duration (p < 10-4) and a correlation between the age and the time of the beginning of the anaesthesia (p < 10-5). 23 patients (5.42%) suffered from pains, nausea/vomitings and epistaxis within the 6 postoperative hours, that would have prevented them from going back home. 23 patients (5.42%) presented hematoma, infections, scar disunity, pains and faintness between day 4 and day 8 after surgery. In all, considering a distance shorter then an 1 hour drive from the ENT department, 69 patients (16.3%) were eligible retrospectively for an ambulatory surgery; they would have been 154 (40.8%) in the absence of this criteria. The medico-economic earnings would have been about 39,900 euros for 69 patients, for 2 years.

Conclusion: 17 to 40% of the patients were potentially eligible for an ambulatory procedure, without endangering them.