Anatomical bases of prolonged ilio-inguinal-hypogastric regional anesthesia.

Although anesthesia and post-operative analgesia are associated with specific morbidity, regional anesthesia is not systematically given during groin hernia surgery. The goals of this work were to determine the anatomical bases of safe ilio-inguinal (II)-hypogastric anesthesia that can be prolonged into the post-operative period and to validate this technique on anatomical preparations and in clinical situations. We studied the courses of the ilio-hypogastric (IH) and II nerves in 33 halves of 20 embalmed adult cadavers.