Abstract: Background: Measurement of postoperative pain and postoperative complications will be used to compare the efficiency of a local anesthetic to regional anesthesia in treating simple inguinal hernias, as well as to determine if local anesthesia may be used for short-stay surgery.
Material & Methods: Randomization into the study and control groups was done for 120 patients with primary, uncomplicated inguinal hernias who were hospitalised to the Department of General Surgery. Hernioplasty was performed under local anesthesia in the study group and spinal anesthesia in the control group. The intraoperative, immediate postoperative, and delayed postoperative complications were compared between the two groups.
Results: Hernia repair can be performed under local or spinal anesthesia on a short-stay basis, however, spinal anesthesia has more complications than local anesthesia While local consequences like seroma, hematoma, scrotal edema, and recurrence were similar in both groups, there is a considerable rise in general complications including hypotension, urine retention, and headache under spinal anesthesia.
Conclusion: Local anesthesia is with less immediate post-operative complication, best suitable for short stay surgery when compared to spinal anesthesia. When short stay service is implemented there will be considerable savings to hospital service and to the patients.
