Effect of neuromuscular blockade reversal on post-operative urinary retention following inguinal herniorrhaphy

This study aims to define the risk of post-operative urinary retention (POUR) following inguinal hernia repair in those that received sugammadex compared to anticholinesterase.

Adults undergoing inguinal herniorrhaphy from January 2019 to July 2022 with at least 30-day follow-up receiving rocuronium or edrophonium and reversed with an anticholinesterase or sugammadex were included. 1-to-2 propensity score matched models were fitted to evaluate the treatment of effect of sugammadex vs. anticholinesterase on POUR, adjusting for patient comorbidities, ASA class, wound class, operative laterality, urgency of case, and open versus minimally invasive repair.

3345 patients were included in this study with 1101 (32.9%) receiving sugammadex for neuromuscular blockade reversal. The 30-day rate of POUR was 2.8%; 1.4% in the sugammadex and 4.4% in the anticholinesterase group. After propensity score matching, patients receiving sugammadex had significantly lower risk of POUR compared to anticholinesterase overall (OR 0.340, p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.198–0.585), in open (OR 0.296, p = 0.013, 95% CI 0.113–0.775) and minimally invasive cases (OR 0.36, p = 0.002, 95% CI 0.188–0.693), unilateral (OR 0.371, p = 0.001, 95% CI 0.203–0.681) and bilateral repairs (OR 0.25, p = 0.025, 95% CI 0.074–0.838), elective (OR 0.329, p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.185–0.584) and clean cases (OR 0.312, p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.176–0.553).

The incidence of 30-day new onset POUR was 2.8%. Sugammadex was associated with significantly lower risk of POUR after inguinal herniorrhaphy compared to anticholinesterase overall and when stratifying by operative modality, laterality, and wound class.