Local anesthesia efficient for some strabismus surgery

ATLANTA — Local anesthesia can be more efficient than general for some strabismus surgeries, according to surgeons here. Intravenous propofol sedation and local anesthesia can lead to shorter recovery times and quicker hospital discharges than general anesthesia in adult patients undergoing strabismus surgery, said Marc Greenberg, MD, and Zane Pollard, MD.

They studied 30 adults who underwent uncomplicated strabismus surgery by one surgeon using propofol sedation and local sub-Tenon’s anesthesia. These patients were compared to adult patients undergoing the same procedure under general inhalation anesthesia.

Patients who were given propofol had an average time from incision closure to leaving the operating room of 4.8 minutes. Patients who had been given the general anesthesia took an average of 8.8 minutes before they left the operating room. After 10 minutes, all patients in the propofol group had left the operating room, whereas only 63% in the general anesthesia group had. One hour postop, 53% of the propofol/local anesthetic group had left the hospital; none in the general anesthetic group had. All of the patients in the propofol group had left the hospital by 2.5 hours postop, as had 90% in the general anesthesia group. However, two patients in the general anesthesia group stayed in the hospital for more than 5 hours.

The study is published in the Journal of the AAPOS.