Purpose: According to the latest recommendations a minimally invasive approach should be used to manage breast cancer and a global policy for minimizing costs encourages shorter periods of hospitalization. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of length of hospitalization on quality of life, anxiety and depression and postoperative complications.
Methods: This is a prospective observational study of 412 female patients with breast cancer requiring a first mastectomy or lumpectomy to assess the impact of the length of hospitalization on quality of life (using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life QLQ30 and BR23 questionnaires) at postoperative day 14 (D+14), levels of anxiety at d-1 and D+1 (according to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale) and postoperative state at D+21.
Results: Our study included 244 patients that had ambulatory surgery and 124 that had non-ambulatory surgery. Global health status was significantly better for ambulatory surgery patients (adjusted p-value=0.014). There were no significant differences between the two groups for levels of anxiety, pain, lymphoceles and postoperative complications. No cases of nausea and vomiting requiring medical treatment were reported for either group.
Conclusions: Breast cancer surgery can be performed using ambulatory surgery with no significant differences compared to non-ambulatory surgery in terms of quality of life, perioperative anxiety, and postoperative complications. Indeed, our study suggests that ambulatory surgery improves patient outcome. It should be determined whether the mode of hospitalization has any long-term impact on the patient, as a shorter hospitalization period would allow decreasing waiting times.
Keywords: Ambulatory surgery; Anxiety; Breast cancer; Outpatient; Postoperative complications; Quality of life.
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