Ultrasound-guided Ilioinguinal/Iliohypogastric Nerve Block Compared to the Combined Therapy With Spermatic Cord Block

Overview

This is a single center randomized, controlled, double-blinded, noninferiority study. Male pediatric patients who underwent inguinal herniotomy will be screened for eligibility. Patients will be randomly allocated to IINB and IINB/SCB groups with allocation ratio 1:1. The primary outcome measure will be the proportion of patients who needed rescue analgesia during the first postoperative 6 h. The secondary outcome measures will be intraoperative heart rate and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), the postoperative pain FLACC pain scale, and intravenous paracetamol consumption, the incidence of adverse effects including hematoma, postoperative vomiting and fever.

Inguinal herniotomy in children is a frequent surgical procedure that require good postoperative analgesia. Ultrasound-guided ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric nerve block is a widely validated anesthetic technique for this procedureز Currently, central neuraxial analgesic techniques have been replaced by ultrasoundguided interfascial plane blocks that have gained more popularity among anesthetists because they are safer, easily performed, associated with minor hemodynamic changes and can be done in the presence of contraindications of the neuraxial block . Ultrasound-guided ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric nerve block (IINB) is commonly done in pediatric patients to control pain after lower abdominal surgeries and has been shown to be effective in controlling pain after inguinal hernia repair . However IINB don't affect the genitofemoral neve that contributes the sensory innervation of the inguinal region. The spermatic cord (SC) is a unique male structure that contains the vas deferens, testicular arteries, the pampiniform plexus of veins, and the ilioinguinal nerve and genital branch of the genitofemoral nerve (GFN). To provide complete analgesia for inguinal hernia surgery, GFN should be blocked in addition to IINB .