Abstract
Background
There is continued interest in day surgery. Arthroscopic shoulder surgery may be performed on a daycase basis. Historically, daycase shoulder surgery has been limited by peri-operative pain and anaesthetic issues; and to date there are no reports of daycase shoulder arthoplasty in the literature.
Methods
A prospective study of 112 patients having shoulder therapeutic arthroscopy or arthroplasty managed according to the total daycare pathway, which includes balanced anaesthesia and simple analgesia.
Results
One hundred and eight patients (96%) were discharged home by 17.00 hours without complications. However the remaining five cases required overnight admission for medical or anaesthetic reasons.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates that, with the correct infrastructure and a multidisciplinary approach: the full spectrum of shoulder surgery may be performed on a daycase basis using interscalene block and simple analgesia.
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