Carpal Tunnel With Local Anesthesia Versus WALANT
Abstract
Objective: Surgeries with the WALANT technique have recently become popular. The main advantage of this technique is that it avoids using the tourniquet and eliminates the discomfort it generates. We hypothesize that carpal tunnel decompression with local anesthesia and a pneumatic tourniquet, performed by an experienced surgeon in a short surgical time, allows us to obtain similar outcomes to the WALANT technique surgery. Materials and Methods: We designed a prospective clinical comparative cohort study. We included twenty-three patients (30 hands) with carpal tunnel syndrome. Two groups of patients were randomized. Group 1 consisted of patients operated on with local anesthesia, and Group 2 included those operated on with the WALANT technique. We carried out a statistical analysis. Results: All the variables showed statistically significant differences concerning the preoperative values for the two groups. Regarding the relationship between those two groups, the functional outcomes of pain and degree of postoperative satisfaction did not show statistically significant differences. Conclusions: In our study, carpal tunnel decompression performed with local anesthesia with a tourniquet and those achieved with the WALANT technique had similar outcomes. In the hands of experienced surgeons, local anesthesia with a tourniquet may be sufficient to perform the procedure, thus avoiding the few but complex complications of epinephrine.Downloads
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