Using Local Anesthesia for Inguinal Hernia Repair Reduces Complications in Older Patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Inguinal hernia repair is the most common general surgery operation in the United States. Nearly 80% of inguinal hernia operations are performed under general anesthesia versus 15%-20% using local anesthesia, despite the absence of evidence for the superiority of the former. Although patients aged 65 y and older are expected to benefit from avoiding general anesthesia, this presumed benefit has not been adequately studied. We hypothesized that the benefits of local over general anesthesia for inguinal hernia repair would increase with age.

Materials and methods

We analyzed 87,794 patients in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Project who had elective inguinal hernia repair under local or general anesthesia from 2014 to 2018, and

SUBMITTER: Balentine CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7968932 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature