Choice of anesthesia technique in elective orthopedic trauma surgery patients

Abstract

Background: Anesthesiology plays a major role in developing preoperative patient care. As the field of anesthesiology improves, the options to apply better anesthetic procedures emerge. Furthermore, Neuraxial anesthesia increases the chances of better outcome for the patients. However, neuraxial anesthesia has not become yet the favorite choice of anesthesia method by all physicians and patients. Objectives: The aim of present study was to assess elective orthopedic trauma patient's preference on the choice of anesthesia method and their primary reasons for their choices. Methods: Overall, 170 adult patients underwent elective orthopedic surgery after encountering various orthopedic traumas. It is important to note that the patients entered the study in a prospective cross sectional manner during a period of six months. A structured questionnaire consisting of two parts was used to interview the patients. The first part included the demographic data and the preferred anesthesia technique and the reasons for supporting these techniques. The second part was designed to assess the level of knowledge regarding the anesthesia methods. Results: Amongst 171 patients, 104 (60.8%) chose regional anesthesia (RA) in comparison to 67 (39.2%), who preferred general anesthesia (GA). The correlation between age and choice of anesthesia was significant (P = 0.001). Level of education did not affect the preferred choice of anesthesia (P = 0.651) nor the satisfaction score (P = 0.363). The satisfaction score with respect to received anesthesia was 9.29 ± 1.03 in the RA group and 8.7 ± 1.29 in the GA patients (P = 0.004). Conclusions: The current findings suggested that regional anesthesia was the most preferred satisfactory technique among orthopedic patients, especially older patients.