Post-operative complications in preterm neonates and neonates undergoing herniotomy surgery.

Inguinal hernia is common in pre-term infants and requires early repair to avoid the risks of incarceration [1]. However, the risk of life-threatening apnea after surgery is significant in this group regardless of the anaesthetic technique used. There was high risk of postoperative apnea, to the extent of 49 %, while more recent reports demonstrated this rate to be closer to 5 %. [2] Cautious use of postoperative ICU monitoring for high-risk patients may be considered in resource limited health care system. [3] There is not much data and evidence comparing different regimens and methods of provision of anaesthesia [4] and cohort studies to look at the incidence of postoperative complications. We have planned this retrospective study to identify the incidence of postoperative complications and review our current practices. This will help us to improve our practices and patient care.

After taking permission from ethics committee, the records of the preterm and term who underwent hernia surgery from the April 2015 to July 2023 will be checked. We expect to get a sample size of 200. The data include age, sex, birth weight, anaesthetic management, postoperative pain management, postoperative respiratory complications like apnea, airway intervention, hypoxia, cardiac arrest, hypotension, hypothermia, duration of ICU stay, and discharge from hospital will be extracted from the medical record database with due care not to disclose the identity of the patients.

**Inclusion criteria:**Preterm and Term infants who underwent hernia surgery from the year April 2015 to July 2023.

Exclusion criteria: Incomplete data

 References:

1. Ramachandran V, Edwards CF, Bichianu DC. Inguinal Hernia in Premature Infants. Neoreviews. 2020 Jun;21(6):e392-e403.

2. Özdemir, T., Arıkan, A. Postoperative apnea after inguinal hernia repair in formerly premature infants: impacts of gestational age, postconceptional age and comorbidities. Pediatr Surg Int. 2013;29, 801–804.

3. Murphy JJ, Swanson T, Ansermino M, Milner R. The frequency of apneas in premature infants after inguinal hernia repair: do they need overnight monitoring in the intensive care unit? J Pediatr Surg. 2008 May;43(5):865-8.

4. Ponde VC, Chavan DN, Desai AP, Gursale AA, Bedekar VV, Puranik KA. Avoidance of deep anesthesia and artificial airways in 1000 neonates and infants using regional anesthesia: A retrospective observational analysis. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol. 2020 Jul-Sep;36(3):386-390.