A Cellular-Level Assessment of the Inflammatory Response in Inguinal Hernia Repair Under General Versus Spinal Anesthesia

Approval for this study was obtained from the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Istanbul Medipol University (approval number: E-10840098-772.02-5920, dated 18/11/21). The study was conducted at the University of Health Sciences, Istanbul Bagcılar Training and Research Hospital. Patients were included if they had provided informed consent for either regional or general anesthesia during preoperative evaluation; were aged between 18 and 65 years; had a body weight ≥45 kg and a body mass index (BMI) between 18-32 kg/m²; classified as American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I-II; and scheduled for elective IHR.

Exclusion criteria were: history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus or malignancy; severe cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease (e.g., decompensated heart failure, history of cerebrovascular accident); severe liver or renal dysfunction; hematologic disorders, thromboembolism or coagulopathies; chronic infections, immune or endocrine disorders; regular use of antiplatelet or anticoagulant medications; history of immune therapy or hormonal therapy; surgery or blood transfusion within the past month; pregnancy or lactation; preoperative abnormal white blood cell count or neutrophil percentage; hemoglobin <8 g/dL; abnormal coagulation tests; or presence of intracranial space-occupying lesions or conditions associated with increased intracranial pressure.

Exclusion during the study included: mechanical ventilation duration >30 minutes, surgical changes or intraoperative complications.

A power analysis performed prior to the study determined a minimum of 20 patients per group (total of 40) to achieve 80% power with α = 0.05 and β = 0.2. Considering potential exclusions, the sample size was increased by 50%, and 60 patients were evaluated for inclusion.

Participants were randomly assigned using a computer-generated randomization program into two groups: general anesthesia (n=30) and spinal anesthesia (n=30). Following exclusions, the final analysis included 21 patients in the general anesthesia group (Group G) and 22 patients in the spinal anesthesia group (Group S).