Inguinal hernia repair using local anaesthesia.

This is a review of a large and long experience in one hospital with more than 100 000 elective inguinal hernia repairs using local anaesthesia and emphasising the advantages of this type of anaesthetic. Subsections deal briefly with facets of this experience such as age, preoperative assessment, skin incision, the cremaster muscle, the testis, bilateral hernias, hernias in women, short hospital stay, follow-up, return to work and recurrence rates. Considerable emphasis is given to the principles of technique and this is described in detail.