Local Anesthesia for Inguinal Hernia Repair

Symptomatic inguinal hernias usually warrant consideration of surgical repair, but for some patients, the risks of general anesthesia are a limiting factor. An alternative is to use local anesthesia through an ilioinguinal nerve block, and limited data suggest this option might work just as well. In a single-center study, investigators report outcomes of this surgical approach for 164 patients (mean age, 71; 15% with diabetes; 45% with prior cardiac disease), nearly all with unilateral inguinal hernias, during an average follow-up of 1.5 years.