Abstract
Local anaesthesia has been identified as the most favourable anaesthesia for elective inguinal hernia repair with respect to complication rate, cost-effectiveness, and overall patient satisfaction.
Operation theatre notes in all seven hospitals in the Northern Region in Ghana over the period of 1 year were reviewed. Only 22.4% out of 1038 repairs were performed under local anaesthesia while predominantly spinal and general anaesthesia were used (48.0 and 29.6%, respectively). African surgeons chose local anaesthesia far less frequently than visiting overseas surgeons (15.6 versus 27.7%, respectively).
All surgeons in resource-poor countries should be encouraged to use local anaesthesia more frequently for elective inguinal hernia repair. Valuable resources in sub-Saharan African hospitals could be saved, especially if used in combination with outpatient surgery.
The technique should be taught in teaching institutions. A simple step-by-step technique is described.
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