Under 2$ hand anesthesia? Our first 800 cases with Wide-Awake Local Anesthesia No Tourniquet (WALANT) in hand surgery

D Pederiva; F Pilla; I Chiaramonte; A Rinaldi; V Rossomando; M Brunello; F Vita; C Faldini

doi:10.1007/s12306-024-00835-z

Under 2$ hand anesthesia? Our first 800 cases with Wide-Awake Local Anesthesia No Tourniquet (WALANT) in hand surgery

Musculoskelet Surg. 2024 Jun 7. doi: 10.1007/s12306-024-00835-z. Online ahead of print.

Authors

D Pederiva^{1

2}, F Pilla³, I Chiaramonte³, A Rinaldi³, V Rossomando³, M Brunello³, F Vita³, C Faldini^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Bologna, Italy. [email protected].
² Research Hospital Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Via Giulio Cesare Pupilli 1, 40136, Bologna, Italy. [email protected].
³ Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Bologna, Italy.
⁴ Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences - DIBINEM, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

PMID: 38848001
DOI: 10.1007/s12306-024-00835-z

Abstract

Introduction: The Wide-Awake-Local-Anesthesia-No-Tourniquet (WALANT) technique is being used progressively more and more in hand surgery as it avoids tourniquet-related complications and saves money.

Materials and methods: In the present study, we analyzed our cases of carpal tunnel syndrome or trigger finger operated upon with this technique from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2022.

Results: We obtained 822 cases (426 carpal tunnel syndrome, 396 trigger finger) with an overall anesthesiologic efficacy (no need of additional anesthetic) of 97.8%. Patients were satisfied or very satisfied with the anesthetic choice in 99.8% of cases.

Conclusions: We believe WALANT to be a safe and effective technique that every hand surgeon should have in his/her repertoire.

Keywords: Carpal tunnel syndrome; Digital ischemia; Hand surgery; Trigger finger; WALANT.