Paediatric post orchidopexy analgesia—effect of diclofenac combined with ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric nerve block

Summary When ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric nerve blockade is used to provide postoperative analgesia after paediatric orchidopexy, supplemental analgesia may be required postoperatively. Diclofenac is a nonsteroidal analgesic which produces effective analgesia after tonsillectomy. We examined the effect of combining diclofenac with inguinal field block for post orchidopexy analgesia. Following induction of anaesthesia, group 1 ( n = 25) received ilioinguinal block and rectal diclofenac (2 mg·kg −1 ) and group 2 ( n = 25) received ilioinguinal block alone. Objective pain scores were assessed for the first three h postoperatively and the incidence of postoperative rescue analgesia, noted. Pain scores were significantly less in group 1 at 45, 60, 90 and 120 min postop ( P < 0.05). The postoperative analgesic requirement was significantly lower in the diclofenac group compared to control ( P < 0.05). A single administration of rectal diclofenac is a simple and effective method of significantly improving analgesia associated with inguinal field block, after paediatric orchidopexy.