LOCAL ANESTHESIA FOR MINOR SURGICAL PROCEDURES IN CHILDREN; A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY AT KHYBER TEACHING HOSPITAL PESHAWAR.

BACKGROUND: One of the most rapidly developing and intriguing areas of pediatric anesthesia nowadays is pediatric regional anesthesia and its multifaceted benefits. Despite advancements such as improved postoperative pain relief and facilitating early discharge after surgery, the article highlights the underutilization of these techniques, emphasizing the need for broader adoption in clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: To determine the success rate of local anesthesia with lidocaine and define safe range of age in children for local anesthesia. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was carried out in the Pediatric Surgery unit, Medical Teaching Institute, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar from June'22 to October'23. Nonrandom consecutive sampling was done and patients aged 0-15 years, both genders and both from in-patient and outpatient undergoing minor surgical procedures were included. Patients were stratified based on gender and procedure type and post-stratification chi-square test was used for comparison. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 45.88 months (SD ±40.28) with 64% males and 36% females. The mean operative time of all procedures was 14.07 minutes (SD ±10.85) and the mean FLACC (facial expression, leg movement, bodily activity, cry or verbalization, and consolability) score of the patients was 3.51 with SD of ±3.12. The complication rate was 4%, and 5% of patients were converted to General Anesthesia. CONCLUSION; The study evaluated different age groups and concluded that local anesthesia is effective and safe in children less than 2 and greater than 8 years of age. KEYWORDS: Paediatric regional anaesthesia, peripheral blocks, mean operative time, FLACC