Comparison of The Quadratus Lumborum Block and Ilioinguinal Iliohypogastric Nerve Block

Perioperative and postoperative pain control in pediatric patients is a frequently neglected issue. Providing effective perioperative analgesia reduces surgical stress, making the postoperative period more comfortable both physiologically and psychologically, effective postoperative pain control reduces the length of stay in the hospital, and also contributes to the long-term positive personality development of children. Physiological, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic differences in children delay the metabolism and excretion of systemic analgesics, resulting in a prolonged effect and an increased risk of apnea. Regional anesthesia applications reduce adverse drug events by minimizing opioid consumption and provide effective and safe analgesia. Caudal block, which is a common regional anesthesia practice in inguinal hernia surgery in children, has disadvantages such as motor block and urinary retention. With the introduction of ultrasonography, peripheral block techniques such as transversus abdominis plane block and ilioinguinal iliohypogastric nerve block have been shown to provide effective and safe analgesia and have replaced central blocks. In recent years, quadratus lumborum block has emerged as an alternative regional anesthesia technique and it has been shown to provide analgesia as effectively as caudal block in children, and in a limited number of studies it has been said that it is more effective than transversus abdominis plane block. There are few studies in the literature comparing ilioinguinal iliohypogastric nerve block and quadratus lumborum block in children. The purpose of the study to compare the postoperative analgesic effectiveness of quadratus lumborum block and ilioinguinal iliohypogastric block in pediatric patients who underwent unilateral inguinal hernia operation.