title: Anesthesia for foot and ankle surgery.
abstract: Regional anesthesia (RA) is the anesthetic of choice for all foot and ankle surgery. Advances in anesthetic equipment and techniques have made peripheral nerve blocks the perfect anesthetic technique for these patients, who should be educated about them in their surgeon's office. The anesthetic alternative of choice is, in the authors' opinion, a neuraxial (i.e. spinal or subarachnoid) technique, rather than a general anesthesia (GA). GA has a higher morbidity and complication rate compared to RA. Performance of a peripheral nerve block, or PNB, requires proper training, equipment, and support personnel in order to handle any and all complications, including general anesthesia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA. treilley@columbus.rr.com
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Reilley
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gerhardt
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D000842:Ankle / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000601:surgery*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011032:Podiatry / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity