Epidural Anesthesia /Analgesia Versus PCA for Laparoscopic Complex Ventral Hernia Repair: A Randomized Controlled Trial

We plan to demonstrate the superiority of epidural anaesthesia/analgesia in repairs of large ventral hernias as compared with a conventional narcotic analgesia regimen. We hypothesize that: 1. Primary outcome measures will improve. Patients will have a shorter length of stay (1 day less) with pre and post-operative epidural analgesia. 2. Secondary outcome measures will also improve. Among them will be VAS pain scores, time to first flatus and bowel movement as well as major and minor complications.