Abstract

AIM: To assess the advantages and limitations of day stay surgery, a retrospective study was undertaken in patients who underwent ambulatory surgery (AS) in our department. MATERIAL and METHODS: Records of patients who underwent AS between April2000 and May 2001, inclusive, were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: Children with uncontrolled systemic illnesses and life threatening anomalies were excluded from the study and 1265 children consisting of 1024 boys and 241 girls were found. The mean age of the patients at presentation was 4.7±years (range, 15 days to 14 years) with a male to female ratio of 4.2/1. Overall complication rate is 3.6%. No mortality related to surgery was observed. CONCLUSION: With proper patient selection, pediatric AS is safe and costeffective program that benefits the child, the family and the pediatric surgical practice.