Laparoscopic interventions in pediatric short-stay surgical units

Introduction. One-day surgery in pediatrics is the most preferred form of elective surgical care for children. However, today issues of laparoscopic surgical interventions in children in a one-day hospital unit remain debatable, since these interventions often require tracheal intubation which increases risks of anesthetic complications at early postoperative period.

Material and methods. From 2017 to 2021, 2401 laparoscopic interventions were performed on patients with varicocele, inguinal hernia and non-palpable testicular syndrome in the short-stay department of Morozovskaya Children’s City Clinical Hospital. Average age of patients was 7 years (range 1–18 years). 910 laparoscopic herniorrhaphies, 1412 laparoscopic testicular vein ligations and 79 diagnostic laparoscopies were performed. The department has developed a unique algorithm of anesthesia for laparoscopic surgeries in children in a short-stay unit.

Results. There were no anesthesia-related complications or other intraoperative complications. Restoration of independent motor activity in patients is registered in 1.5–2 hours after surgery. Average length of stay in the department is 7.1 hours (6–8 hours).

Conclusion. Thus, currently, modern high-tech laparoscopic surgeries are carried out in short-stay surgical departments, while previously they were performed only in round-clock surgical departments. The researchers could achieve such successful results because of an original algorithm of safe anesthesia which has been developed in the department. This anesthetic support is highly effective for laparoscopic interventions in children with elective surgical pathologies in a short-stay hospital.