OBJECTIVETo investigate the efficacy and safety of local anesthesia and epidural anesthesia in tension-free repair of inguinal hernia.

METHODSBetween January 2004 and December 2006, 269 patients underwent inguinal hernia repair were randomly divided into two groups, receiving local anesthesia (143 cases) and epidural anesthesia (126 cases). The clinical data from the two groups were analyzed retrospectively.

RESULTSThe operation time, ambulation time, length of hospital stay and cost of hospitalization in local anesthesia group were significantly less than those in epidural anesthesia group (P < 0.05). No significant differences were found in intra-operative use of ancillary sedation drugs, postoperative recovery situation, pain scores and operation-correlated complications between the two groups. The occurrence of postoperative anaesthetic complication rate was also significantly lower in local anesthesia group (P < 0.05). One case of recurrence occurred in each group during postoperative follow-up period.

CONCLUSIONTension-free inguinal hernia repair under local anesthesia is a simple, safe, economical, effective procedure and superior to epidural anesthesia.