Tramadol for pain relief in children undergoing herniotomy: a comparison with ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric blocks

Summary Background: Prevention of postoperative pain in children is one of the most important objectives of the anesthesiologist. Preoperative ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerve blocks have been widely used to provide analgesia in children undergoing herniorrhaphy. Tramadol is an analgesic with micro‐opioid and nonopioid activity. In this study we compared the usage of intravenous tramadol with ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerve blocks for control of postherniorrhaphy pain in children aged 2–7 years. Methods: Sixty patients were randomly allocated to two groups of thirty. One group received tramadol 1.5 mg·kg−1 i.v. before induction of general anesthesia and the other had an ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerve block with 0.5% bupivacaine (0.25 ml·kg−1) before skin incision. We assessed pain using the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale and the Categorical Pain Scale. Results: At 1, 4 and 24 h after surgery the two groups had identical pain scores. At 2 and 3 h after surgery the tramadol group experienced significantly less pain (P