Background: More and larger operations are performed on an outpatient basis with patient leaving the hospital the same day and complications may remain unknown to the hospital unless the patients are asked explicitly.
Material and methods: Complications from 383 ear-nose-throat operations were registered continuously by the surgeon and supplemented with data from postoperative consultations and reports from other hospitals or doctors, and then compared with data from 328 (86%) postoperative patient interviews.
Results: According to the patient interviews, the rate of complications (16.7%) was much higher than the hospital was aware of (4.7%). Most unknown complications (40 out of 64) were mild but five were serious enough to require reoperation under general anesthesia.
Interpretation: Registration of surgical complications should include postoperative interviews with patients.