You can avoid the damage to your veins caused by the needles and strong medications. There are some risks when you have general anesthesia. Discuss these risks with your doctor. The local anesthesia may not numb the area quite enough and you may feel some minor discomfort. Also, in rare cases, you may have an allergic reaction to the drug used in this type of anesthesia.
Local anesthesia is considered safer than general anesthesia.
By inserting the catheter into a vein in your chest, the doctor may tear the lung cavity or the lung. This could cause the lung to collapse, which would require another procedure under a local anesthetic to reexpand the lung. As long as the catheter is in place, it may become infected. In that case, the catheter and the target would have to be removed. A clot may form around the tip of the catheter in the vein and block it.