Awake caudal anesthesia for inguinal hernia operations: successful use in low birth weight neonates.

Neonates with inguinal hernia face a relatively high risk of incarcerated hernia and bowel obstruction and this therefore requires surgical treatment. Complications following general anesthesia even for minor surgery are more common in low birth weight neonates than in term neonates. Caudal epidural anesthesia without adjunct general anesthesia has been recommended for neonates to reduce the risk of postoperative complications. The successful application of awake caudal anesthesia with levobupivacaine for inguinal hernia repair in 15 low birth weight neonates is reported. Single dose caudal epidural anesthesia was administered for inguinal hernia surgery to avoid complications associated with general anesthesia. Caudal block was performed with 2.5 mg/kg body weight (BW) levobupivacaine. Caudal anesthesia can be recommended as an effective technique for avoiding postoperative anesthetic complications in low birth weight neonates.