[Ambulatory visceral surgery--limits and risks from the clinical viewpoint]

Visceral outpatient operations are well established in Dresden. Since 1978, 13,948 cases have been operated on in general surgery. Most patients (57.8%) had local anesthesia; only 9.2% needed general anesthesia. A total of 9,175 patients (65.8%) had visceral outpatient surgery. The conditions for these operations in outpatients are: the patient's compliance, the cooperation of the family, an operating theater with complete equipment and, last but not least, a qualified surgical team. The pre- and postoperative management must be perfectly organized. Even today there are special limitation for one-day surgery. We have not yet introduced laparoscopy into our outpatient program. Oncological surgery can be performed, provided the general standards for radical tumor surgery can be realized. With careful selection of patients and the right indication, complications are rare in outpatient surgery. In only 0.7% of all cases did wound infections occur postoperatively. None of the patients died.