European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

The benefits of regional anaesthesia in children are well documented. These include attenuation of the
stress response, reduced opioid requirement and therefore reduction in associated side effects,
improved postoperative analgesia, and earlier extubation. Caudal epidural block is one of the most
common regional techniques in paediatric anesthesia. Caudal block is safe and reliable technique, easy
to perform and has been found to be very effective in children, especially in infra-umbilical surgeries
when combined with general anaesthesia. This study included 72 children, of both genders, coming for
various elective infra-umbilical surgical procedures such as herniotomy, orchidopexy, circumcision etc.
Ethical clearance from institutional ethical committee was obtained. Informed consent was obtained
from the parents before including the children in the study. Optimal calculated needle angle for
successful caudal block was 28.14±4.03 degrees in Group A, 19.22±2.78 degrees in Group B, which
was statistically significant. Needling time or procedural time for successful caudal block was
5.97±1.32 seconds in Group A, 14.25±2.93 seconds in Group B, which was statistically significant.