Inguinal Hernia Repair with Local Anesthesia in the Outpatient—10 Year Experience

Objective: To demonstrate the feasibility of inguinal hernia repair with local anesthesia in an out-patient regime, with safety, efficacy and short learning curve. Methods: We prospectively eva-luated 1186 patients undergoing inguinal hernia repair under local anesthesia on an outpatient basis between November 2004 and March 2014. Of the total number of hernias surgically treated in this period, 755 were operated on the right, 394 on the left and 37 bilateral. We used clinical, surgical and psychosocial criteria for inclusion in the procedure. The parameters for exclusion were complex, irreducible or recurrent hernia, obesity (BMI greater than 30 kg/m2), patient’s re-fusal and psychiatric disorder. All patients underwent elective surgery and were analyzed re-garding surgical outcome, complications and hospital stay. Results: All operations were completed successfully. In no case there was a need to change the anesthetic method. Surgical time was simi-lar to that conducted with other methods of anesthesia and there were no cases of adverse effects of local anesthetics. Intra-operative complications amounted to approximately 2.64%. There was no need for hospital admissions greater than 24 hours. Conclusion: The procedure is feasible an