A Prospective Study Comparing Wide-Awake Local Anesthesia No Tourniquet Versus General Anesthesia in Hand Fracture Fixation

Fixation of metacarpal or phalanx bone fractures is usually performed under general anesthesia (GA) or regional anesthesia and with the use of a tourniquet to minimize bleeding. However, the use of tourniquet causes pain and discomfort after surgery. Wide-awake local anesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) enables the surgery to be performed with the patient fully awake and without a tourniquet, which allows intraoperative assessment of function during surgery. This study aims to compare the perioperative parameters and clinical outcomes between GA versus WALANT in hand fracture fixations.