Clinical evalation of the the of local anesthesia for repair of inguinal hernia.

Three hundred sixty-six patients undergoing elective inguinal hernioplasty were randomized to receive either local anesthesia or traditional spinal or general anesthesia. Overall operative complication rates were nearly the same, but wound complication predominated in the local anesthesia group while problems related to anesthesia were more common with spinal or general technique. Patients who had local anesthesia had significantly fewer postoperative symptoms than did the others.