Study objective: A questionnaire survey of patients discharged after laparoscopic surgery was performed to investigate and analyze the recovery of activity of daily living (ADL) 1 month after surgery.
Design: Retrospective study (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).
Setting: University hospital.
Patients: Two hundred ten patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery from June 1, 2003 through March 31, 2004, other than those who underwent total hysterectomy or emergency surgery.
Intervention: Laparoscopic surgery.
Measurements and main results: At discharge, all patients were given a questionnaire form with the following instructions: "Except for bathing and sport activities, you may do everything unless you feel wound pain." In principle, they were discharged on postoperative day 2. The subjects were asked to record in the questionnaire form the time when they could carry out ADL for the first time after surgery, and the time to recovery was compared among 3 major surgical procedures (myomectomy, adnexal surgery, and resection of deep infiltrating endometriosis), for blood loss level, and duration of surgery. The questionnaire form was collected at the clinical visit 1 month after surgery. The collection rate of the questionnaire was 92.4%. The mean (95% CI) of days (disease day) before the subjects could do ADL for the first time after surgery was 5.4 (4.5-6.3) for housekeeping, 5.6 (4.7-6.5) for shopping, 11.6 (10.1-13.2) for bathing, 11.8 (10.2-13.5) for bicycle riding, 12.5 (11.4-13.7) for office work, 12.8 (11.6-13.9) for light exercise, 16.0 (13.7-18.3) for physical work, and 18.1 (15.0-21.2) for sport activities. This indicates that the postoperative period for recovery tended to be longer for the activities with larger burden. The postoperative period before recovery was not significantly influenced by the surgical technique, duration of surgery or blood loss level.
Conclusion: The recovery of ADL occurred quickly after laparoscopic surgery. Most of the patients could return to their preoperative ADL within 1 month. Although the recovery status was almost constant, irrespective of the surgical technique or invasiveness level, the number of days required for recovery varied more likely because of various factors including sensitivity to pain, character, and living environment of the patients.