Juniper Publishers- Surgery| The Treatment of Inguinal Hernia in the Elderly: Always Local?
The Treatment of Inguinal Hernia in the Elderly: Always Local? Abstract: Inguinal hernia is one of the most common diseases in the elderly. Local anaesthesia (LA) is almost used in open inguinal hernia surgery; whereas in routine practice, regional anaesthesia (RA) or general anaesthesia (GA) is the method of choice in the elderly. Methods: A retrospective analysis of all inguinal hernia repairs performed in our hospital over a 3-year period was performed. The outcome measures were type of anaesthesia used, patient demography, co-morbidities, hernia type, hernia repair methods and hospital stay. Those who threated by local anaesthesia, recurrent and bilateral hernias and ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) grade IV patients were excluded from the study. Results: A total of 237 hernia repairs were performed during the study period. According to the ASA classification; 130 patients were grade I, 98 were grade II and 9 were grade III. Of these 153 (%64.5