Background: Cesarean section [CS] delivery is the commonest surgical procedure in obstetric practice. Its incidence witnessed steady increase over the past decade and this is expected to continued. Early discharge after elective non-complicated CS gained acceptance but without consensus.
Aim of the work: This study aimed to compare between 12 and 24 hours' hospital stay after elective CS regarding post-operative complications.
Patients and methods: This study included 200 women scheduled for elective CS and randomized to early [after 12 hours] and delayed [after 24 hours] hospital discharge. They preoperative assessment was performed systematically in the form of clinical, laboratory and imaging evaluation. Then, intraoperative and postoperative data were collected and compared.
Results: The women age ranged between 19 and 34 years. All had normal body mass index and both groups are comparable regarding personal and obstetrics data. No significant differences were recorded regarding operative time, postoperative complications and pain. However, the satisfaction rate was significantly higher among group A [early discharge] than the group B [late discharge] [89.0% vs 75.0%, respectively].
Conclusion: Early discharge [12 hours] after elective CS is comparable to the delayed discharge [24 hours] except for higher patient satisfaction [89.0% vs 75.0%]. Thus, we recommended early discharge after elective CS.