Quality of Postoperative Recovery in Patients Undergoing Video Laparoscopy Cholecystectomy in a University Hospital

Postoperative recovery (PR) is a complex, multifactorial process, resulting largely from the confluence of physical, physiological, and psychological factors. The Quality of Recovery-15 (QoR-15) questionnaire is a tool used to assess patient's satisfaction with their recovery after surgery. The primary objective of the study is to use the QoR-15 questionnaire to describe and compare the preoperative and 24-hour postoperative scores in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy (ELC) surgery. This is a cross-sectional, single-center study carried out on patients undergoing ELC, aged 18-70 years, and classified as ASA Physical Status I-III. Patients were invited to answer the QoR-15 during hospitalization, preoperatively, and the next day after the procedure. Data collected included age, sex, weight, height, preoperative fasting time, anesthesia technique, analgesic use (intraoperative and postoperative), duration of anesthesia and surgery, and antiemetic use. Data normality was checked using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Wilcoxon, Fisher's exact, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney tests were used when appropriate. Data from 116 patients were analyzed. In our hospital, the postoperative QOR-15 was 136 (IQR: 142.0-121.7), scoring in the "excellent" category. However, there was no significant difference in relation to the preoperative QoR-15 score of 135 (IQR: 143.0-125.0), p = 0.4803. When the postoperative scores were analyzed categorically, statistically significant differences were observed for the variables of gender (p = 0.0052) and anesthetic technique (p = 0.0462). This study demonstrates that patients undergoing ELC achieved excellent postoperative recovery. Gender and anesthetic techniques appear to influence recovery quality. Further multicenter studies are required to validate these findings in diverse populations and surgical contexts.