[Comparison of anxiety in patients before surgery for varicose veins and laparoscopic cholecystectomy]

The trial of estimation of the fear degree before operation and its dependence on the patient's sex, type of operation and anaesthesia was performed. 76 patients before the operation were examined: group I--38 patients, including 27 women and 11 men waiting for the repair of lower extremities varicose veins under local anaesthesia, and group II--also 38 patients, including 27 women and 11 men before the laparoscopic cholecystectomy due to cholecystolithiasis. The Polish version of the Spilberg's State--Trait Anxiety Inventory was used in the estimation of the fear. The statistically significant difference of the preoperative fear degree between examined groups was not found. There were also no significant differences between men and women in the same group. Women in both groups displayed a significantly higher values of the fear as a trait. Probably laparoscopic operations are considered by the patients as more safe than traditional ones, and maybe the trust in doctors causes the fact that the operation under general anaesthesia is connected with low fear as well as the operation under local anaesthesia.