Ultrasound guided TAP and Genitofemoral Nerve block versus spinal anaesthesia for inguinal hernia repair – a comparative study

Introduction: General anaesthesia (GA) and Spinal anaesthesia (SA) are the most common anaesthetic procedure used for inguinal hernia. Most of the time patients presents with other co- morbidities like cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, which makes GA and SA relatively risky. Local Nerve blocks with Local Anaesthesia is a less popular technique, which can be used to anesthesize patients with high risk.

Objectives: In our study, we tried to compare the Transverse Abdominis Plane (TAP) Block plus Genitofemoral Nerve (GFN) block with spinal anaesthesia for direct inguinal hernia repair.

Materials and methods: 80 patients scheduled to undergo direct inguinal hernia were taken and randomly divided into two groups: Group T received TAP plus GFN block and Group S received spinal anaesthesia. We compared the Onset of analgesia, quality of anaesthesia, hemodynamic changes and complications (if any), in both the groups.

Results: The demographic profile of both Group T and S were comparable in respect to age, height and weight. The onset of analgesia in Group T was 707.65 ± 34.5 seconds and in Group S was 215.82 ± 8.26 seconds. 92.5 % of times Surgeons were comfortable with the operating field in Group T and 100% in Group S. 7.5% of the blocks in Group T was not successful, and had to be converted to general anaesthesia. Incidence of hypotension and bradycardia was observed in Group S, whereas in Group T, there was no such findings. Shivering was seen in 20% of patients in Group S. Both the groups showed no incidence of nausea or vomiting.