Known as the Wide-Awake Local Anesthesia No Tourniquet procedure this technique revolutionizes how hand and wrist surgeries are performed for conditions such as:
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- De Quervain’s tenosynovitis
- Tendon ruptures
- Trigger finger
WALANT is especially beneficial for patients who do not want to or are unable to undergo general anesthesia—either due to age and/or other medical issues—because of the risk of potential complications, including:
- Post-operative confusion
- Pneumonia
- Stroke
- Heart attack
What makes WALANT so unique is that medication has taken the place of the tourniquet to stop bleeding during the procedure; the tourniquet required that patients be placed under general anesthesia because it causes pain. The medications used are lidocaine, epinephrine and sodium bicarbonate. They block pain, stop bleeding during the procedure and buffer the solution to make it nearly painless.
Performed in the office (POS=11) the area being operated on is numbed and thoroughly sterilized with cleaning solution while the patient sits comfortably and listens to music or watches television. Then, the appropriate surgical procedure is conducted. Patients can return home the same day and resume normal activity.
At issue is that numerous surgical procedures are currently considered “facility-only” and there is no reimbursement for the overhead of the office surgical suite. See the article on NON-FAC PE for more information.