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Wide-awake surgery yielded less pain, shorter hospitalization for distal radius fractures
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Wide-awake local anesthesia with no tourniquet may be an efficient immediate intervention for patients with distal radius fractures, providing less postoperative pain and shorter hospitalization compared with general anesthesia, according to published results.
Chun-Yu Chen, MD, and colleagues compared perioperative parameters and clinical outcomes among 47 patients with distal radius fractures who underwent surgical volar plating (2.4-mm LCP Distal Radius System, Synthes) with either wide-awake local anesthesia and no tourniquet (n=21) or general anesthesia (n=26). Researchers followed patients for 12 months.
Results showed lower mean VAS score and shorter mean hospitalization among patients in the wide-awake group. Although researchers noted a greater mean blood loss in the wide-awake group, they found blood loss was limited to a mean of 22.62 mL and did not interfere with the surgical field. The wide-awake and general anesthesia groups had no significant differences in operative time or time to union, according to results, as well as no significant differences in wrist extension, wrist flexion or Mayo wrist score at 12-month follow-up.
“Wide-awake local anesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) simplifies surgical preparations, also provides a low-risk and reliable method for volar plating of distal radius fractures,” Chen told Healio.com/Orthopedics. “The comparison to general anesthesia with tourniquet revealed WALANT had less postoperative pain and shorter hospitalization.” – by Casey Tingle
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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