Background: Inguinal hernia repair is a common operation in general surgery and can be performed under local, regional or general anaesthesia. This multicentre randomized trial was undertaken to compare the costs of the three anaesthetic methods in general surgical practice.
Methods: Between January 1999 and December 2001, 616 patients at ten hospitals who underwent primary inguinal hernia repair were randomized to local, regional or general anaesthesia. The primary endpoints were direct costs. Secondary endpoints were indirect costs and recurrence rates.
Results: Total intraoperative, as well as total early postoperative, data showed local anaesthesia to have significant cost advantages over regional and general anaesthesia (P < 0.001). The advantage was also significant for total hospital and total healthcare costs (P < 0.001), whereas there was no significant difference between regional and general anaesthesia.
Conclusion: The use of local anaesthesia for inguinal hernia repair was significantly less expensive than regional or general anaesthesia.