A COMPARISON OF PULMONARY FUNCTIONS AND OXYGENATION FOLLOWING LOCAL, SPINAL OR GENERAL-ANESTHESIA IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING INGUINAL-HERNIA REPAIR

In order to compare the pulmonary effects of various anaesthetic techn iques, 49 otherwise healthy patients needing inguinal hernia repair we re randomized to general, spinal or local anaesthesia. Blood gases wer e drawn and spirometry performed pre- and postoperatively at fixed int ervals. Results showed a superior ventilation and oxygenation pattern for local anaesthesia (p < 0.05). No statistically significant differe nces were found between the groups with respect to forced vital capaci ty (FVC) or forced expiratory volume per second (FEV1) but patients wh o had spinal anaesthesia performed worse, and for the group as a whole there was a significant reduction compared to preoperative values. We conclude that local anaesthesia is less detrimental to pulmonary func tion in inguinal hernia operations than spinal or general anaesthesia.