Stress Response and Hemodynamic Changes Associated With Intrathecal Anesthesia Versus Caudal Epidural Anesthesia in Infants Undergoing Laparoscopic Inguinal Herniorrhaphy

Inguinal hernia repair is the most frequent surgical procedure in early childhood. Various regional anesthetic techniques have been employed to provide optimum intraoperative and postoperative pain control after this procedure. Introduced decades ago, the use of intrathecal (spinal) anesthesia and caudal block in procedures for different types of laparoscopic abdominal surgery is safe and efficient. Caudal block is now frequently used in intraoperative and postoperative analgesia for pediatric surgery. In infants and children, central neuraxial block is an important modality for acute postoperative analgesia in addition to combined anesthesia, the goals of postoperative analgesia in children are pain eradication, expedient recovery to daily activities, and prevention of progression of acute postsurgical pain to chronic pain or hyperalgesia