Early but No Long-term Benefit of Regional Compared with General Anesthesia for Ambulatory Hand Surgery

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine whether either regional anesthesia (RA) or general anesthesia (GA) provided the best analgesia with the fewest adverse effects up to 2 weeks after ambulatory hand surgery. Methods: Patients undergoing ambulatory hand surgery were randomly assigned to RA (axillary brachial plexus block; n 50) or GA (n 50). Before surgery, all patients rated their hand pain (visual analog scale) and pain-related disability (Pain-Dis-ability Index). After surgery, eligibility for bypassing the post-anesthesia care unit (“fast track”) was determined, and pain, adverse effects, and home-readiness scores were measured. On postoperative days 1, 7, and 14, patients documented their pain, opioid consumption, adverse effects, Pain-Disability Index, and satisfaction. Results: More RA patients were fast-track eligible (P < 0.001)