Day-care unit for rigid panendoscopy of the upper aerodigestive tract: A study of 436 procedures

Abstract Objectives To assess the role of day-care management of upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) panendoscopy and to study criteria for conventional hospital admission and reasons for conversion. Patients and methods Retrospective study, from January 2011 to May 2013. Inclusion criteria UADT panendoscopy for carcinoma assessment. Study variables, age, gender, tumor location, reason for panendoscopy, TNM stage, previous external radiotherapy, home-to-hospital distance and Apfel, Detsky and ASA scores. A day-care and a conventional admission group were compared using Fisher's test for ASA score, student's test for age and Pearson's chi 2 test for the other variables. Results Four hundred and thirty-six panendoscopies were performed: 252 in day-care, including 4 cases of conversion and 184 with conventional admission. There were no significant differences between groups for age, gender, tumor location, TNM stage, reason for panendoscopy, previous external radiotherapy, home-to-hospital distance or Apfel score. A significant difference was observed for ASA score ( P P  = 0.03). In 39% of cases, the reason for hospital admission without criteria defined by the French Society of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine (SFAR) and French Health Authority (HAS) was the patient's refusal of day care. In 10% of conventional admissions, day-care was not implemented because of psychosocial factors. Conclusion Day-care management is appropriate for UADT panendoscopy in selected patients. The reasons for the high rate of patient refusal should be studied.