[Surgical treatment of inguinal hernia in short-term hospitalization. Prospective survey of 500 consecutive unselected cases. Associations Francaises de Recherche en Chirurgie].
Individual medical and social factors associated with the acceptance and success of short stay surgery for unilateral, uncomplicated inguinal hernia were looked for in 500 consecutive unselected patients. The mean duration of postoperative hospital stay was 3.4 days. Sixty percent of the patients were discharged within the first 48 hours following surgery, including 10 percent who left the hospital in the evening of the operation day. Twenty-two percent of the patients who could have left during these 48 hours refused to do so. The most predictive variable for acceptance and success was a profession requiring little physical activity. Local anaesthesia has been associated with success in the so-called ambulatory surgery, but the methodology of the present study did not permit to establish a cause-effect relationship.