Hernia repair and local anesthesia. Results of a controlled randomized clinical trial

In the past, general and spinal anesthesia were used for hernia surgery, but nowadays local anesthesia has become the method of choice for hernia repair, especially in outpatient patients. The one-day surgery is sufficient in the management of this pathology. The advantages of local anesthesia are simplicity, safety, extended postoperative analgesia, early mobilization, lack post-anesthesia effects, and low costs. From January 2004 to December 2008 we observed 297 male patients with inguinal hernia. These patients were divided, with rigorous chronological order of hospital admission, in two study groups, different for anesthetic techniques used. Our controlled randomized clinical trial examines the effectiveness of local anesthesia to reduce the time of hospitalization, without alteration of results, and particularly the degree of satisfaction of patients surgical treated for inguinal hernia.