Overnight observation in former premature infants undergoing inguinal hernia repair.

BACKGROUND: Overnight observation for apneic events is standard practice in former preterm infants. However, the literature supporting current protocols is dated. Therefore, we retrospectively evaluated the post-anesthetic risks in these patients. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted on former preterm infants admitted after an inguinal herniorrhaphy between 1/00 and 10/09. The protocol for overnight admission was for patients born before 37 weeks gestation who are less than 60 weeks post-conceptional age (PCA). RESULTS: There were 363 patients, of which 23 were <40 weeks PCA (group 1), 244 were 40 to 49.9 weeks PCA (group 2), and 96 were 50 to 60 weeks PCA (group 3). Events registered by alarms occurred in 4 patients (1.1%), 2 from group 1 and 2 from group 2. In Group 1, one occurred during nasogastric tube placement and resolved spontaneously. In group 2, one was apnea-induced bradycardia that resolved spontaneously, and one was in a patient on home monitors with an event similar to home reports. There were no events in group 3. CONCLUSION: Conservative guidelines for overnight observation after inguinal hernia repair could be set for patients born before 37 weeks gestation who are under 50 weeks PCA.