Prospective comparison of local, spinal, and general types of anaesthesia regarding oxidative stress following Lichtenstein hernia repair.

As a tension-free repair technique, Lichtenstein operation has gained great popularity worldwide during the last decade. Expert centres do this technique using local anaesthesia in nearly 95 % of cases. However, general anaesthesia is used in many hospitals, while regional anaesthesia is preferred in some centres. To date, no study has compared different types of anesthesia in respect of inflammatory response and oxidative stress specifically. The objective of this prospective study was to compare local, spinal and general types of anesthesia regarding their effects on inflammatory response and oxidative stress in Lichtenstein hernia repair. Lichtenstein hernia repair causes only a mild oxidative stress. While total WBC and neutrophil count responses fade away after 24 hours in patients who are operated under local anaesthesia, these changes in spinal and general types of anaesthesia cases stay valid at 24th hour. Spinal anaesthesia is seen to be more advantageous than local and general types of anaesthesia when C-reactive protein as an acute phase marker is considered. Total antioxidant status shows minor alterations in three types of anaesthesia, however, general anaesthesia seems to be the least reliable among them. Overall, local and spinal anaesthesia methods can be accepted as better alternatives in comparison with general anaesthesia in regard to oxidative stress (Tab. 2, Ref. 25). Full Text (Free, PDF) www.bmj.sk.