Analgesic efficacy of Ultrasound guided Erector Spinae Plane Block or Ilioinguinal/ Iliohypogastric nerve block in patients undergoing unilateral inguinal hernia meshplasty - A Randomised Study

Erector Spinae Plane (ESP) block is a more recent regional anaesthetic technique use to provide post-operative pain relief, both acute and chronic, for various surgical procedures. As this is a relatively newer block, its beneficial prospects in a variety of procedures are yet to be explored with many trials and studies ongoing

Presently, the literature available on ESP block is deficient in describing its utility in inguinal hernia patients, especially adults. There is limited evidence available on the advantages of ESP block, but we hypothesise that based on the simplicity of identification and administration, lower risk of adverse events as tissue plane is away from major neurovascular bundles and pleura, it has significant advantages over other methods currently employed for pain management in inguinal hernia surgeries. Also IIN/IHN block has been found to provide adequate analgesia after hernioplasty. Although ultrasound guided interfascial blocks have been utilized in hernioplasty for providing adequate post-operative analgesia, however limited literature is available in comparing the analgesic efficacy between ESP block and IIN/IHN block in patients undergoing unilateral inguinal hernia repair. We hypothesise that ESP block or IIN/IHN block may be equivalent or either of the block may prove to be more efficacious in providing adequate and effective post-operative analgesia in patients undergoing unilateral mesh hernioplasty under subarachnoid block. Hence,  the present study is being undertaken to compare the efficacy of Ultrasound guided ESP block with ultrasound-guided Ilioinguinal/Iliohypogastric nerve block for post-operative analgesia in patients scheduled to undergo elective unilateral inguinal hernia meshplasty.