Preemptive local anesthetic infiltration in hallux valgus one-day surgery

Background: The surgical treatment of hallux valgus deformity is connected with significant postoperative pain. Spinal and general anesthesia as well as peripheral blocks are successfully used in foot surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of local anesthetic infiltration before hallux valgus one-day surgery on postoperative pain and the need for analgesics.

Methods: 134 patients underwent chevron or miniinvasive Mitchell-Kramer osteotomy of the first distal metatarsal. After general anesthesia each patient randomly received an infiltration of 7ml of local anesthetic (4 ml of 0.25% bupivacaine and 3 ml of 2% lidocaine) or the same amount of normal saline 15 minutes before the skin incision. Both the patient and the surgeon were blinded. The patient was discharged after approximately 2 hours of observation. 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 72 hours after the release of the tourniquet the level of pain was assessed by the visual analogue scale (VAS). Rescue analgesia, side effects and the use of painkillers were noted.

Results: Preemptive local anesthetic infiltration significantly decreased pain during the first 24 hours after the surgery. None of the patients from the injected group and 38 from the placebo group received 100 mg of ketoprofen intravenously for rescue analgesia in the first 2 hours after the release of the tourniquet. During the first 24 hours we noted significantly decreased use of 1000 mg of paracetamol and 100 mg mg of ketoprofen orally in the injected group. No systemic adverse effects were noted. One patient from placebo group had allergic rush after use of 100 mg ketoprofen.

Conclusions: Preemptive local anesthetic infiltration in one-day hallux valgus surgery significantly decreases postoperative pain. It is safe, efficient and allows fast discharge.