Low dose caudal VS dorsal penile nerve block for postoperative analgesia after circumcision

Abstract

Pain is one of the most common and underdiagnosed medical problems in children. Inadequate pain control during childhood may have long-term negative effects including harmful neuroendocrine responses, disrupted sleep cycles and increased pain perception during subsequent painful experiences. It also can result in an uncooperative and restless child. Hence, it is best to prevent the onset of pain rather than to relieve its existence. In children, regional anesthesia procedures can be safely used to achieve intra- and postoperative analgesia in all age groups. It is an essential element of a multimodal pain concept and should be performed on children wherever appropriate and possible. Our study was carried out to compare the effectiveness, duration of post-operative analgesia, and the complications among dorsal penile nerve block (DPNB), caudal nerve block (CNB) and the combination of both. This study was carried out on 81 male patients, aged from 3-12 years old & undergoing circumcision. The patients were divided into 3 groups, each is composed of 27 patients; group 1 including DPNB patients, group 2 including CNB patients and group 3 for combined block.