Assessment of postoperative pain after general and caudal anesthesia in perianal surgery

Abstract

General anesthesia and caudal anesthesia in anal fissure, anal fistula and hemorrhoid surgery, which cause severe pain in the postoperative period, are compared in terms of effects on respiratory function tests, postoperative pain and analgesic effects. 54 patients in ASA I-II group were randomly allocated into two groups. General anesthesia was applied to the first group and caudal blockade was performed to the second group. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2), respiratory frequency (RF), tidal volume (TV), minute volume (MV) and pain scores by using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were measured before the operation, at the end of the operation, one hour after the surgery, when they felt pain and one hour after analgesic administration. No significant differences were found between the groups in the terms of BP, HR, SpO2, RF, TV, MV. Three of the twenty-seven patients in general anesthesia group and twenty-two of the twenty-seven patients in caudal anesthesia group had no pain. Postoperative pain scores were significantly low in patients with caudal anesthesia group. No complications were observed in both groups. We concluded that caudal anesthesia technique in perianal surgery is very effective and reliable as it’s performed easily, its complications are rare and quality of postoperative period is high.