Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Feb;124(2):623-626.
doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000001780.

Anesthesia for Ambulatory Pediatric Surgery in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Pilot Study in Burkina Faso

Yvette B Kabré  1 , Idriss S S Traoré, Flavien A R Kaboré, Bertille Ki, Alain I Traoré, Isso Ouédraogo, Emile Bandré, Albert Wandaogo, Nazinigouba Ouédraogo
Affiliations

Anesthesia for Ambulatory Pediatric Surgery in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Pilot Study in Burkina Faso

Yvette B Kabré et al. Anesth Analg. 2017 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Long surgical wait times and limited hospital capacity are common obstacles to surgical care in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Introducing ambulatory surgery might contribute to a solution to these problems. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of introducing ambulatory surgery into a pediatric hospital in SSA.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study that took place over 6 months. It includes all patients assigned to undergo ambulatory surgery in the Pediatric University Hospital in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Eligibility criteria for the ambulatory surgery program included >1 year of age, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) 1 status, surgery with a low risk of bleeding, lasting <90 minutes, and with an expectation of mild to moderate postoperative pain. The family had to live within 1 hour of the hospital and be available by telephone.

Results: During the study period, a total of 1250 patients underwent surgery, of whom 515 were elective cases; 115 of these met the criteria for ambulatory surgery; 103 patients, with an average age of 59.74 ± 41.57 months, actually underwent surgery. The principal indications for surgery were inguinal (62) and umbilical (47) hernias. All patients had general anesthesia with halothane. Sixty-five percent also received regional or local anesthesia consisting of caudal block in 79.23% or nerve block in 20.77%. The average duration of surgery was 33 ± 17.47 minutes. No intraoperative complications were noted. All the patients received acetaminophen and a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug in the recovery room. Twelve (11.7%) patients had complications in recovery, principally nausea and vomiting. Eight (7.8%) patients were admitted to the hospital.

Conclusions: No serious complications were associated with ambulatory surgery. Its introduction could possibly be a solution to improving pediatric surgical access in low-income countries.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02766257.

PubMed Disclaimer

MeSH terms

Associated data