[Office surgery: organization, legislative, and medico-legal problems. Personal experience]

The authors approach the subject of office surgery by underlining the advantages of this procedure. In particular, they focus attention on the anesthesiological and legislative problems. Depending on the setting used for surgery and the duration of hospitalisation, ambulatorial surgery can be divided into: day-hospital, office surgery, one-day surgery, short-stay surgery, same-day surgery,

The authors report their own experience relating to 103 cases with relative complications. A total of 103 operations of medium-to- major ambulatorial surgery were performed (100 females and 3 males, mean age 36.8). One week prior to surgery all patients attended a medical out-patient examination in order to fill in medical records and be prescribed routine hematochemical tests, chest X-ray and ECG. The preoperative anesthesiological evaluation was made at the time of surgery. All patients received antibiotic prophylactic treatment.

Postoperative complications were reported above all following neuroleptoanalgesia and amounted to a total of 5 cases: nausea (4 cases) associated with vomit (1 case), and postural hypotension (1 case). No infective complications were observed.

The authors emphasise the importance of a careful preoperative selection of patients; an out-patient structure equipped with the appropriate instrument and machinery for surgery and the constant presence of anesthetists to ensure correct anesthesia (local, neuroleptoanalgesic, peridural general), reanimation and postoperative care. The aims of ambulatorial surgery are, in broad terms, the safety of procedures, convenience for the patient and organisational and economic savings for health structures. Ambulatorial surgery has an extremely high acceptance rate by patients. Lastly, the authors also report the juridical and bureaucratic problems faced by ambulatorial surgery and look forward to its wider diffusion. In the future office surgery might represent an important contribution to surgical therapeutic strategies, allowing, if well organised, an excellent compromise between safety, convenience and reduced costs for the patient.