title: Use of peripheral blocks and tourniquets in foot surgery: A survey of Australian orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeons.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The most common reasons for unplanned admission to the hospital from outpatient surgery have the potential to be minimised or eliminated by peripheral nerve blocks (PNB). Tourniquets are commonly used in elective extremity surgery but it's use is mostly guided by personal preferences and does no correlate with the existing literature. Our aim was to explore the current practice of PNB and tourniquet use by foot and ankle surgeons in Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Australian Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Surgery Society (AOFAS) annual meeting was held in Adelaide in 2011. Members were asked to complete an electronic survey on their current use of peripheral nerve blocks and tourniquets. Two specific elective case scenarios were included for comment, one pertaining to forefoot pathology, the other hindfoot pathology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-three AOFAS members replied to the survey, an overall response rate of 76.6%. Of these, only two surgeons did not use ankle blocks in elective surgery and none were prepared to operate without a tourniquet. Most Australian foot and ankle surgeons were reluctant to use local anaesthetic techniques without an accompanying GA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While the literature suggests that GA may add to complications without any benefit for the procedure and that distally based tourniquets may add benefit, these are not the favoured techniques in Australian foot and ankle surgeons.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: florian.gruetter@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gruetter
authors.affiliation: Specialist Anaesthetic Services, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
authors.forename: Glenda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rudkin
authors.affiliation: Adelaide Orthosports Clinic, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stavrou
authors.affiliation: Orthopaedics SA, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dracopoulos
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jakob
authors.affiliation: University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: lukas.iselin@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Lukas Daniel
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Iselin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000768:Anesthesia, General / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005528:Foot / Q000601:surgery*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009407:Nerve Block / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014111:Tourniquets / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Ankle; Ankle block; Forefoot; Midfoot; Rearfoot; Regional anaesthesia; Tourniquet