A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Wide-Awake Local Anesthesia With No Tourniquet (WALANT) to General Anesthesia in Plating of Distal Radius Fractures With Pain and Anxiety Level Perception

Introduction: Distal end radius fractures are common fractures commonly treated with an option of open reduction and plating. Traditionally, plating is performed under general anesthesia (GA) or regional block. Recently, a new technique of plating under wide-awake local anesthesia with no tourniquet (WALANT) has been introduced. We aim to compare the preoperative anxiety level, intraoperative pain scores, post-operative pain scores, operating time, blood loss and clinical outcome of distal end radius plating with WALANT versus GA with tourniquet. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled study on patients with closed fracture of the distal end of the radius requiring open reduction and plating from January 2019 till April 2020. We recruited 65 patients (33 patients in the WALANT group and 32 patients in the GA group). Randomization was done via block randomization. Data were collected to evaluate preoperative anxiety using the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) score, intraoperative pain score during injection (baseline) (V1), 10 minutes after injection (V2), during incision (V3), during gentle manipulation (V4), during aggressive manipulation (V5) and during first drilling of screw (V6), blood loss, duration of surgery and post-operative pain score. Additionally, intraoperative visual analog scale (VAS) score was obtained in the WALANT group. At three weeks, six weeks, three months and six months after operation, the Quick Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QuickDASH) scores and range of motion (ROM) of the wrists were obtained. Results: The average age in the WALANT group was 47.19 (range, 36-64) years and GA group was 49.48 (range, 38-60) years. The mean APAIS score obtained was 7.78 (WALANT group) and 7.36 (GA group) with no statistical difference. For intraoperative VAS, only during V4 and V5 were the scores 1/10; otherwise at all other phases, the VAS score was 0. The average time for surgery was statistically longer in the WALANT group (61.22 minutes) compared to the GA group (55.33 minutes) (p = 0.003). There was no statistical difference in mean blood loss in both groups. The average post-operative VAS showed statistical significance only at 1 hour and 12 hours post-operation with no statistical difference at 2 and 24 hours post-operation. There was no difference in the post-operative ROM including wrist flexion, extension, supination and pronation for both groups up to six months’ follow-up. Conclusion: There was no statistically significant difference in terms of preoperative anxiety level, intraoperative and post-operative VAS score, amount of blood loss and clinical outcome in both groups for plating of the distal end radius. However, the operating time was slightly longer in the WALANT group. We conclude that distal radius plating under WALANT has similar outcomes to GA. In centres with limited resources, WALANT offers a safe, reliable and cheaper option, reserving GA time for head, abdominal and thoracic surgery.