Purpose: We evaluated the safety and effectiveness of spermatic cord anesthetic block (SCAB) as the only method of anesthesia for bilateral simple orchiectomy in an outpatient clinic setting.
Materials and methods: The study included 141 consecutive bilateral simple orchiectomy (BSO) procedures performed at Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center during a 33-month period. All procedures were performed in an outpatient clinic setting using SCAB as the only method of anesthesia. The anesthetic solution consisted of an equal mixture of 1% lidocaine with epinephrine at 1:100,000 and 0.25% bupivacaine. A 10-point visual analog pain scale was used to assess pain/discomfort at baseline, during SCAB instillation and during BSO. Postoperatively overall patient impression/satisfaction with SCAB as a method of anesthesia was determined.
Results: Nine of the 141 available cases (6.4%) were excluded from study. The remaining 132 cases were included in data analysis. Mean patient age was 75.4 years (range 44 to 86). A total of 76 patients (57.6%) were receiving luteinizing hormone releasing hormone agonist therapy at the time of the procedure. The mean time needed to perform SCAB and BSO was 3.9 (range 2 to 6) and 33.0 minutes (range 12 to 70), respectively. The average volume of anesthetic solution was 20.1 ml per case (range 10 to 32). The mean pain score was 0.36 (range 0 to 8), 1.96 (range 0 to 8) and 0.33 (range 0 to 5) at baseline, and during SCAB and BSO, respectively. Of the patients 102 (77.3%) underwent a painless procedure (pain score = 0), 29 (21.9%) experienced transient pain that was mild in nature (pain score 4 or less) and only 1 (0.7%) had a pain score of 5. Pain scores were similar in patients who were and were not receiving luteinizing hormone releasing hormone agonists at baseline (p = 0.36), during SCAB instillation (p = 0.89) and during BSO (p = 0.36). The overall impression/satisfaction with SCAB as a method of anesthesia was rated as highly satisfactory by 91.7% of patients and satisfactory by 8.3%. There were no intraoperative adverse events related to SCAB.
Conclusions: SCAB is a simple, safe and highly effective method of anesthesia for scrotal procedures. It allows such procedures to be performed in an outpatient clinic setting, offering convenience and the potential for cost savings.