To compare the effect of ropivacaine or lidocaine in elderly inguinal hernia surgery under local anesthesia.

From January 2017 to December 2018, 90 elderly patients undergoing Lichtenstein tension-free hernia repair under local anesthesia in Second People's Hospital of Zhanjiang were randomly divided into experimental group (ropivacaine group) and control group (lidocaine group), with 45 cases in each group. Both groups received Lichtenstein tension-free hernioplasty. The experimental group received 0.5% ropivacaine local infiltration anesthesia, while the control group received 1% lidocaine local anesthesia. The basic vital signs, operation time, intraoperative bleeding, postoperative hospital stay, onset time of local anesthetics, duration of pain relief, postoperative VAS pain score and incidence of complications were observed and recorded.

There were no significant differences in mean arterial pressure, heart rate and pulse oxygen saturation between and within the two groups (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in operation time and intraoperative blood loss between the two groups (P>0.05). The postoperative hospital stay in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). The onset time and pain relief duration of local anesthetics in the experimental group were significantly longer than those in the control group (P<0.05). At the end of operation (T4), there was no significant difference in VAS between the two groups (P>0.05), and the VAS pain score at 4 hours (T5) in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of related complications between the two groups (P>0.05).

Ropivacaine for tension-free inguinal hernia repair under local intoxication has satisfactory anesthetic effect, high safety, less postoperative pain, quick recovery and fewer complications. It is worthy of clinical promotion.