WALANT Protocol: Stop before you block

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader WALANT Protocol: Stop before you block Via Journal of plastic, reconstructive & aesthetic surgery : JPRAS J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2021 Jun 6:S1748-6815(21)00278-3. doi: 10.1016/j.bjps.2021.05.025. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT The use of Wide Awake Local Anaesthetic No Tourniquet (WALANT) amongst Plastic and Orthopaedic Hand Surgeons has been accelerated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated risks of general anaesthesia. Benefits of WALANT include a bloodless field, improved recovery, on-table testing, as well as cost and time savings. Whilst more clinical trials are underway to fully elucidate safety-profile and outcomes, there is a lack of consensus and clarity over contraindications to WALANT. A survey of trainees identified that only one-in-five were aware of the appropriate reversal agent in the event of inadequate perfusion. We feel that a WALANT checklist should be developed and implemented for use immediately prior to administration of local anaesthetic with adrenaline to an extremity, building on the succe sses of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Royal College of Anaesthetists checklists. Such a checklist should include contraindications to WALANT and make the operator aware of the availability, dose and location of Phentolamine as a reversal agent. Introducing this checklist will help to facilitate safer and more effective use of WALANT within Hand Surgery. PMID:34193391 | DOI:10.1016/j.bjps.2021.05.025 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.