What type of anaesthesia would be apropriate for ankle surgery?

Question

I'm supposed to have my ankle fixed -- I have stage III avascular necrosis of the talar dome, chondral defects, marrow edema, and a talar fracture. I'm not looking forward to the prospect of general anaesthesia -- would a nerve block be apropriate, since it's an extremity, and if so -- what are the complications of a nerve block?

Answer 1

You have a variety of anesthetic choices:

General anesthesia:
Advantages: lasts as long as the surgery does, safe and effective.
Disadvantages: potential for respiratory complications, nausea and vomiting, loss of control (that's a big one for me!)

Neuraxial anesthesia (spinal or epidural):
Adv: painless surgery, you can be awake if you want to , or sedated if you don't, safe, fewer side effects
Disadv: spinal is a one-shot deal - if your surgeon is slow, of if complications arise during the surgery, the medicine may wear off (then you get a general); epidurals can be re-dosed through a catheter; chance (albeit a small one) of a spinal headache.

Ankle block
Adv. Just the ankle is numb
Disadv: Just the ankle is numb - if the surgery extends higher, it will hurt. Also requires 5 injections.

There are other nerve blocks that some anesthetists can do - ask yours what he/she is adept at doing. Complications of a nerve block: failure of the block to work, local anesthetic toxicity, bleeding/infection. Overall, very safe.

Personally, I'd go with a spinal if your surgeon can be relied upon to get the procedure done in a timely fashion, or an epidural if he tends to move slowly or your surgery is complicated.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I badly sprained my ankle about 3 weeks ago. I was in a hurry going down the stairs, lost my balance and landed on a bad side of my left foot, causing my left ankle to be stretched going on the inside. The first 48 hours were excruciating and the pain was un-believable. I've never had a serious ankle injury before.

So I immediately treated it using the RICE method. The following day, the bruising and swelling were so horrible. I found out that I got a second degree sprain and immediately panicked after that. I had a football game on that week and it been looking forward to it because I've been training for rt. I had teammates that had similar injuries and it took them months to fully recover, some of them stopped playing altogether. So I kinda had a short-term depression because I can't imagine myself not being able to run and play sports anymore.

Because I was so desperate to recover again, I contacted a lot of people that I know who do sports and asked them if they had similar injuries. One friend of mine, from the boy's football team in my university, told me about H.E.M. Ankle Rehab. I got a copy 4 days after I got injured. I immediately read and followed what was instructed and felt improvement on the first day. I was able to walk a bit, but I was in pain.

A couple of days after that, the swelling and bruising were subsid-ing significantly and on the fourth day, I was walking comfortably again. Although I've had felt a bit of stiffness, I continued doing what was instructed. My sister was surprised that I have recovered this fast. I told her about this book and was shocked on how effective the procedures were. I'm just so happy that this book was shared to me and how effective it is.

Heal your ankle fully & fast?

Answer 3

Can do either one but best to talk with your doctor about that, which would be better for you. Either has about the same risks but with the nerve block you can normally go home a bit earlier and you will be awake through the whole thing and more alert when you do go home.

Answer 4

paralysis........that is a big complication. Why are you woried about what anestetic they give you as long as they knock u out so u dont feel it..... it is not ur job to determine which type is best for you the surgeon and ur Dr will figure out what is best.

Answer 5

a spinal would work. If done right the complications would be less than that of general.

Answer 6

I'd go for a few stiff shots of a good whiskey...