Comparison of the inguinal hernia repairs in terms of perioperative process performed on an outpatient basis or in hospitalized conditions

Objective: Determination of anesthesia methods for inguinal hernia repairs, and comparison of procedures in terms of the perioperative process either performed on an out-patient basis (non-hospitalized) or in hospitalized conditions.Materials and Methods: Medical records of 577 patients who were performed inguinal hernia operations in the period beween 01/01/2008 and 30/06/2011 at the Medical Faculty Hospital of Dokuz Eylul University were retrospectively evaluated. The center of the operation, age, gender, and ASA physical status of the patients, duration of perioperative periods, complications experienced in the recovery units were recorded and compared statistically.Results: Over the years, it was determined that the Day Hospital was was more preferably for the hernia operations (p=0,0001). No significant difference was detected between the two centers with regard to the age, gender, and ASA physical status of the patients. For the operations performed at the Central Operating Room and the Day Hospital, the mean values were determined as follows, respectively: hospital stay before the operation was 36.19 ± 39.67 hs and 21,32±42,02 hs (p= 0,001), duration of anesthesia was 124.14 ± 39.65 min and 112.66 ± 34.14 min (p = 0.01), recovery time was 127,29± 70,26 min and 78,39±37,25 min (p= 0,001), time to discharge was 44.01 ± 36.53 hs and 19.05 ± 23.59 hs (p = 0.0001). Endotracheal intubation was performed in 42 (40.77%) and 2 (7.69%) cases, while laryngeal mask was used in 42 (40.77%) and 2 (7.69%) cases, respectively, at the Central Operating Room and the Day Hospital (p = 0.003). In terms of duration of surgery, anesthetic method, complications experienced in the recovery period, and postoperative analgesia method no significan difference was determined between the two groups. In both groups, nausea, vomiting, and cardiovascular complications were observed less common in the cases that regional anesthesized was administered.Conclusion: Inguinal hernia repair was determined to be more advantageous in terms of perioperative period and postoperative complications when performed on an out-patient basis. According to the data obtianed in this study, it was concluded that more current institutional approaches should be developed in this respect.Key words: Surgery; inguinal hernia repair; anesthesia; outpatient; multimodal analgesia