Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction Using the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 Questionnaire and Surgical Outcome in Single-Port Surgery for Benign Adnexal Disease: Observational Comparison with Traditional Laparoscopy

Laparoscopic surgery has been demonstrated as a valid approach in almost all gynaecologic procedures including malignant diseases. Benefits of the minimally invasive approach over traditional open surgery have been well demonstrated in terms of minimal perioperative morbidity and reduced postoperative pain and hospital stay duration, with consequent quick postoperative recovery (Medeiros et al. (2009)). Single-port surgery resurfaced in gynaecology surgery in recent years and renewed interest among other surgeons and within the industry to develop this field (Podolsky et al. (2009)). Patient satisfaction is emerging as an increasingly important measure of quality which represents a complex entity that is dependent on patient demographics, comorbidities, disease, and, to a large extent, patient expectations (Tomlinson and Ko (2006)). It can be broadly thought to refer to all relevant experiences and processes associated with health care delivery (Jackson et al. (2001)). In this study we aim to compare single-port surgery (SPS) with conventional laparoscopy in terms of patient satisfaction using the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 questionnaire. We also evaluate the main surgical outcomes of both minimally invasive approaches. 1. Introduction Laparoscopic surgery has been demonstrated as a valid approach in almost all gynecologic procedures including malignant diseases. Benefits of the minimally invasive approach over traditional open surgery have been well demonstrated in terms of minimal perioperative morbidity and reduced postoperative pain and hospital stay duration, with consequent quick postoperative recovery [1]. Single-port surgery resurfaced in gynecology surgery in recent years, since in 2007 Podolsky and colleagues reported their experience with single-port cholecystectomy and renewed interest among other surgeons and within the industry to develop this field [2]. Laparoendoscopic single-site surgery represents another innovation in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery whose goal could be to further improve not only the surgical or physical outcomes but also, and more generally, the quality of health care. Patient satisfaction is emerging as an increasingly important measure of quality [3] that seems to be independent from other clinical and surgical outcomes. Patient satisfaction can be defined as the extent to which an individual’s experience in health care matches his or her expectations. Obviously, patient satisfaction is a very complex entity that is dependent on patient demographics, comorbidities, disease, and, to a large extent, patient