• Serbülent Gökhan Beyaz, Orhan Tokgöz, and Adnan Tüfek.
• Sakarya University Medical School, Anesthesiology, Sakarya, Turkey. sgbeyaz@gmail.com
• Ann Saudi Med. 2011 Sep 1;31(5):494-7.

Background And ObjectivesRegional anesthesia is usually preferred as caudal block via the epidural space. However, the number of large-scale studies including pediatric caudal blocks is small. The objective of this study was to evaluate complications and side effects of local anesthetics and adjuvant drugs.Design And SettingRetrospective, descriptive study of cases occurring during the period December 2007 to October 2009.MethodsOf 4815 medical records were screened, 2088 pediatric cases were identified and included in this study.ResultsAs a local anesthetic, we preferred mostly levobupivacaine in 1669 (79.9%) patients and bupivacaine in 419 (20.1%) patients. As adjuvant drug, we preferred mostly morphine (41 patients), fentanyl (7 patients) and adrenaline (6 patients) in 54 (2.5%) patients. For general anesthesia induction, we preferred mostly propofol (1996 patients, 94.2%); for maintenance, sevoflurane (1773 patients, 84.9%). For airway control, we preferred mostly the ProSeal laryngeal mask (PLMA), in 1008 (48.2%) patients. One thousand six hundred five (76.9%) patients were from outpatient clinics and 483 (23.1%) patients were from inpatient clinics. No permanent complication was encountered after caudal blocks.ConclusionWe conclude that caudal epidural blocks are a safe and effective method for subumbilical day-case pediatric surgeries when performed by anesthetists.

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