Abstract:

Background: The “Wide Awake Local Anaesthesia No Tourniquet” (WALANT) technique is gaining popularity in plastic, orthopedic, and general surgery due to its benefits. This study aims to determine indications and early outcomes of WALANT among surgical patients at Bugando Medical Centre. As improving overall surgical management at Bugando Medical Centre.

Methods: This was a prospective longitudinal study to determine indication and early outcomes of WALANT among patients undergoing surgical procedures at Bugando Medical Centre from April to July 2023. This study involved 91 patients aged from 12 years and above undergoing plastic, orthopaedics and general surgical procedures at Bugando Medical Centre. This mean age of 41 years who underwent surgical procedures our setting. Structured questionnaires were used to obtain operative information, VAS was used to obtain intra operative pain score.

Result: The most common indication for using WALANT was surgeon’s preference (65/91, 70%). The most common procedure done was sloughectomy (16/91, 17.6%) and the least common procedure was colostomy (1/91, 1.1%). Intraoperative VAS score range from 0 to 4 with a mean 1.1 (±0.39). Of the participants (88/91, 97%) had no any complication post-operative. The most common postoperative complication was tachycardia (2/91, 2.2%). The level of satisfaction was associated with length of hospital stay by chi-square with a p-value of 0.00.

Conclusion: The WALANT technique can be performed as best alternative type of Anaesthesia for both minor and major surgeries with minimum pain score, high client satisfaction rate, minimum risk of infection and significant low hospital stay.