A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF USG GUIDED TRANSVERSE ABDOMINIS PLANE BLOCK VERSUS CAUDAL BLOCK WITH 0.2% INJ ROPIVACAINE FOR POST OPERATIVE ANALGESIA IN CHILDRENS UNDERGOING INGUINAL HERNIA SURGERY

Objectives: To compare the duration of postoperative analgesia between TAP block and caudal block in children undergoing inguinal hernia surgeries.

Materials & Methods: A prospective study conducted in 40 children of age 28 years and ASA grade I and II, undergoing elective inguinal hernia surgery were randomly allocated into two groups: Group A(n 20 ) received USG-guided TAP block with 0.5mL/kg of 0.2% ropivacaine and Group B (n 20) received caudal block with 1mL/kg of 0.2% ropivacaine. The primary outcome variable was the duration of postoperative analgesia and the secondary outcome variables included variation in hemodynamic parameters and adverse effects.

Results: There was no significant difference in median of FLACC score till 5 postoperative hours, thereafter till 24 postoperative hours, significantly lower FLACC score were found in Group A. Mean duration of analgesia was 780 273.30 min in Group A, whereas in Group B, it was 456 120.54 min. No significant difference was observed in hemodynamic variations and adverse effects.

Conculsion: TAP block and caudal block both are effective in providing postoperative analgesia in children undergoing inguinal herniotomy. USG-guided TAP block was found to be superior as it provided longer duration of analgesia and reduced rescue analgesic dose without any significant adverse effects as compared with caudal block after inguinal herniotomy.