[Single-day hospitalization for arthroscopic knee surgery. Organization and management]

Two hundred and thirty, 142 men and 88 women with an average age of 34 years were admitted as single-day patients for knee joint arthroscopy or arthroscopic knee surgery, after assessment as outpatients. Arthroscopy under local anaesthesia was undertaken in 112 patients prior to admission while 118 patients were admitted solely on the basis of clinical examination. Arthroscopic operations were carried out in 155 patients while diagnostic examinations only were carried out in 75 patients. The frequency of the patients in whom therapeutic intervention was undertaken was significantly higher when the admission had been preceded by outpatient diagnostic arthroscopy (p less than 0.001). In 21 cases (9%) admission to a regular department proved necessary in four patients on account of the knee and in 17 patients on account of sequelae of the anaesthesia. It was of no significance for the number of patients requiring more prolonged hospitalization whether arthroscopic operation or solely diagnostic intervention had been undertaken and, similarly the significance of a blood-free operating field was of no significance in this respect. The duration of the operation had no influence upon the discharge either. General anaesthesia resulted in more cases of prolonged hospitalisation than epidural or spinal analgesia. No surgical complications occurred. The only complication of significance occurred after epidural analgesia with a symptom-producing dural lesion. It is concluded that single-day admissions are very feasible in patients who have been assessed as outpatients in view of the anaesthetic risk and who have been meticulously informed about the course of hospitalization.