Wide Awake Surgery Is Safe and Feasible in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery

Wide awake local anesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT) techniques are increasingly utilized for hand surgeries in adults, given the clinical benefits to patients, reduced environmental waste during surgery, and lower costs to the health care system. This technique is not widely employed for pediatric hand surgeries given concerns for parental and patient anxiety, noncompliance during surgery, and tolerance of administration of local anesthesia. Select patients undergoing amenable procedures can potentially benefit from this method and enjoy the lower morbidities and costs that adult patients enjoy. It was hypothesized that WALANT technique would be safe, efficient, and feasible in a pediatric cohort.