Analgesic effect of caudal and IL/IH nerve blockade among children undergoing inguinal surgeries: A prospective cohort study, 2019

ABSTRACT Background: Caudal block (CB) is a common regional technique in pediatric patients. It involves the introduction of local anesthetic into the caudal epidural space. Ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric nerve block is also the most common abdominal wall blocks provide effective analgesia for surgical procedures of inguinal area. Objectives: To compare the analgesic effect of caudal and ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric nerve blockade using bupivacaine for children under going inguinal surgeries at Menellik II hospital. Methodology: An institutional based prospective cohort study was conducted on 70 patients who under gone inguinal surgeries under general anesthesia. Patients in CB group (n = 35) received caudal block and IL/IH group (n = 35) received ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric nerve block after induction of anesthesia based on the independent decision of anesthetist. Study participants were selected by Systematic random sampling technique. P-value less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Result: This study found that caudal block has prolonged postoperative analgesia with a mean duration of 301.5 ± 73.5 min compared to 242.4 ± 66.4 min in Ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric group (p = 0.001). Total analgesic consumption and pain severity was comparable between the groups (p > 0.05) which is not statistically significant. Conclusion and recommendation: we found that caudal epidural had prolonged duration of analgesia as compared to Ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric nerve block. Based on our finding we recommend the use of caudal block as effective post-operative analgesia for inguinal surgeries in pediatrics. Highlights: