The transversus abdominis plane block may reduce chronic postoperative pain one year after TAPP ingunial hernia repair

INTRODUCTION: Chronic postoperative inguinal pain (CPIP) is defined as pain impacting daily activities lasting at least 3 months. With an incidence of 0.5–6.0%, chronic pain affects many patients who underwent inguinal hernia repair (IHR). Early severe postoperative pain has been described as a risk factor for CPIP. Thus, we aim to investigate the impact of the transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block on CPIP. METHODS: From 2013 to 2019 we collected data from individuals who were operated on electively in TAPP technique and who received a preoperative TAP block. RESULTS: Data from 289 patients were selected. 259 patients were male. The mean age was 59.93 years and the mean BMI was 25.72 kg/m2. 252 patients suffered from a primary inguinal hernia. No mesh fixation was conducted. 21 patients reported pain at rest, 26 pain under physical exertion and 13 patients required treatment of their pain. In 6.25% of cases patients reported CPIP. We compared our findings with data from the German Herniamed Registry (unilateral, primary IH, men, no mesh fixation; n = 8.799), because we assume that the majority of these patients did not receive a TAP block. The rate of pain under physical exertion (9.2% vs. 10.05%) and pain requiring treatment (2.45% vs. 2.95%) one year after surgery slightly differs without a statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: We assume that the TAP block may reduce CPIP, postoperative pain during physical exertion and pain requiring treatment following IHR in TAPP technique. Additional randomized clinical trials are mandatory to evaluate the hypothesis.