INGUINAL FIELD BLOCK FOR ADULT INGUINAL-HERNIA REPAIR USING A SHORT-BEVEL NEEDLE, DESCRIPTION AND CLINICAL-EXPERIENCE IN SOLOMON-ISLANDS AND AN AUSTRALIAN TEACHING HOSPITAL

One of the limitations of an inguinal field block is that it does not reliably produce complete anaesthesia. The purpose of this study was t o describe a modified short-bevel needle technique facilitating correc t needle placement, for inguinal hernia repair. Anaesthetists from two different institutions performed the described infiltration blocks, P rospective data were collected from these groups, each having 30 patie nts. We evaluated the safety and reliability of the described block. O f the 60 patients, two were ''failed'' blocks, requiring conversion to general anaesthesia, There were no other major intraoperative or reco very room complications. Results of the modified inguinal field block showed a 97% ability to achieve a ''fair'' block or better Intraoperat ive and postoperative data showed high surgeon and patient satisfactio n for the block. The described block using a short-bevel needle is rec ommended as a suitable method for adult patients undergoing inguinal h ernia repair.