Objective To establish the mode of anterior cervical surgery in outpatient setting, and evaluate its preliminary effectiveness. Methods A clinical data of patients who underwent anterior cervical surgery between January 2022 and September 2022 and met the selection criteria was retrospectively analyzed. The surgeries were performed in outpatient setting (n=35, outpatient setting group) or in inpatient setting (n=35, inpatient setting group). There was no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05) in age, gender, body mass index, smoking, history of alcohol drinking, disease type, the number of surgical levels, operation mode, as well as preoperative Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, visual analogue scale score of neck pain (VAS-neck), and visual analogue scale score of upper limb pain (VAS-arm). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, total hospital stay, postoperative hospital stay, and hospital expenses of the two groups were recorded; JOA score, VAS-neck score, and VAS-arm score were recorded before and immediately after operation, and the differences of the above indexes between pre- and post-operation were calculated. Before discharge, the patient was asked to score satisfaction with a score of 1-10. Results The total hospital stay, postoperative hospital stay, and hospital expenses were significantly lower in the outpatient setting group than in the inpatient setting group (P<0.05). The satisfaction of patients was significantly higher in the outpatient setting group than in the inpatient setting group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in operation time and intraoperative blood loss (P>0.05). The JOA score, VAS-neck score, and VAS-arm score of the two groups significantly improved at immediate after operation when compared with those before operation (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the improvement of the above scores between the two groups (P>0.05). The patients were followed up (6.67±1.04) months in the outpatient setting group and (5.95±1.90) months in the inpatient setting group, with no significant difference (t=0.089, P=0.929). No surgical complications, such as delayed hematoma, delayed infection, delayed neurological damage, and esophageal fistula, occurred in the two groups. Conclusion The safety and efficiency of anterior cervical surgery performed in outpatient setting were comparable to that performed in inpatient setting. Outpatient surgery mode can significantly shorten the postoperative hospital stay, reduce hospital expenses, and improve the patients’ medical experience. The key points of the outpatient mode of anterior cervical surgery are minimizing damage, complete hemostasis, no drainage placement, and fine perioperative management.
Objective To understand the status quo of depression and anxiety emotion in perioperative patients with thoracic neoplasms under the concept of enhanced recovery aftersurgery. Methods Huaxi emotional-distress index scale (HEI) was adopted to investigate the mental status of 195 patients with thoracic neoplasms in Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, and the nursing outpatients between September and November in 2016. There were 118 males and 77 females at age of 17–80 (55.72±12.66) years. Results There was significant difference in mental health level between the preoperative patients and the postoperative patients (3.70±3.41vs. 11.01±9.78,P<0.001). The incidence of depression and anxiety emotion in the postoperative patients was significantly higher than that in the preoperative patients (50.00%vs. 9.60%, P<0.001). Besides, there was significant difference of depression and anxiety degree between the preoperative patients and postoperative patients (P<0.001). Moderate to severe depression and anxiety were mostly found in the postoperative patients while mild to moderate depression and anxiety in the preoperative patients. Conclusion Patients with thoracic neoplasms have much emotional obstacle in perioperative period. The incidence and severity degree of depression and anxiety emotion in postoperative patients are higher than those in preoperative patients.