Feasibility of local anaesthesia for varicocele correction in one-day-surgery setting. A single center experience

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we compared postoperative outcomes of patients submitted to varicocele correction under general or local anesthesia at a single center. Methods: All patients underwent varicocele surgical treatment with the Colpi-modified Marmar subinguinal technique. They were managed with either general (Group A) or local with ileo-inguinal and ileo-hypogastric nerves block (Group B) anesthesia. The two groups were compared in terms of timing of discharge and post-operative pain as assessed with the numeric rating scale (NRS) at both rest and movement (NRSm). Results: Overall, 63 patients were included with a mean (SD) age of 25 years ± 5 yrs. The NRS mean score was significantly lower for Group B during the first 4 days after surgery at both rest and movement (all p < 0.05). Patients receiving local anesthesia showed a faster time to first urination (210 vs. 240 min; p = 0.02), although the time to discharge was comparable between the two groups (250 vs. 250 min). Conclusions: These results suggest that local anetshesia for varicocele surgical treatment is feasible and provide better pain control and faster recovery after surgery.