Patient Satisfaction and Postoperative Pain After Diagnostic Hysteroscopy: Spinal Versus General Anesthesia

Background: Diagnostic hysteroscopy is a common ambulatory gynecological procedure that may be associated with perioperative discomfort and postoperative pain. The optimal anesthetic technique for improving patient comfort while ensuring rapid recovery remains controversial. This study aimed to compare spinal anesthesia and general anesthesia with a supraglottic airway in terms of postoperative pain and patient satisfaction following diagnostic hysteroscopy. Methods: The investigators conducted a prospective, randomized, single-blind controlled study over a four-month period in a tertiary university hospital. After obtaining informed written consent, Adult women, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status of I, II, or stable III, without contraindications to spinal anesthesia, known allergy to anesthetic agents, full stomach, body mass index \>35 kg/m², history of migraine or communication difficulties, scheduled for diagnostic hysteroscopy were randomly assigned to receive either general anesthesia with an I-gel supraglottic airway (GA group) or spinal anesthesia (SA group). Heart rate, non invasif blood pressure and pulse oxymetry are monitored. Postoperative pain was assessed using the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), on postoperative day 1 and day 2. Patient satisfaction with anesthesia was evaluated using the Iowa Satisfaction with Anesthesia Scale (ISAS). Secondary outcomes included recovery time, duration of stay in the PACU, and anesthesia-related complications. Statistical study: Data entry and analysis were performed by SPSS software version 26.0. We used Excel 2019 software to edit the charts. We retained a significance threshold for p less than 5%.