Gastric sleeve resection as day-case surgery: what affects the discharge time?

Sleeve gastrectomy, with its short operating time, is possible to perform as same-day surgery, with the most common reason for requiring overnight hospital stay being postoperative nausea and vomiting.

To demonstrate the feasibility and safety of sleeve gastrectomy as same-day surgery with regard to complication rate. Additionally, the study aimed to evaluate factors determining the duration of hospital stay, such as type of anesthesia, time of procedure, degree of postoperative nausea and pain, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, or previous abdominal surgery.

Nonacademic primary referral center.

A substudy of a single-center, double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Patients included in this study underwent sleeve gastrectomy and were randomized into 1 of the following 2 types of anesthesia: total intravenous anesthesia with propofol or desflurane. Primary endpoint was the number of patients discharged the same day as surgery. Secondary endpoints were unplanned telephone calls, readmission rate, and complication rate. Time of procedure was registered by the staff at the operation theatre. Visual analog scales score estimating patients' intensity of pain and nausea were completed at the postoperative unit, surgical ward, and 24 to 48 hours postoperatively.

Ninety-three patients were included in the study. Fifty-nine (63%) were discharged the same day as surgery (32 desflurane and 27 total intravenous anesthesia), 30 patients (32%) were discharged 1 day after surgery, and 4 patients (4%) were discharged after >2 days (15 desflurane and 19 total intravenous anesthesia). The most common reasons for prolonged stay were pain, nausea, and fatigue. Statistical analyses showed no association between day of discharge and the type of anesthesia, time of the procedure, degree of postoperative nausea and vomiting, pain intensity, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, or previous abdominal surgery.

Same-day surgery is feasible and safe in terms of low complication rate. The type of anesthesia, time of procedure, degree of postoperative nausea and vomiting and pain, American Society of Anesthesiologists score and previous abdominal surgery does not appear to affect length of hospital stay.