BENEFITS OF THE WALANT TECHNIQUE AGAINST THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

ABSTRACT Objective: Evaluate the experience of private and public health services with the WALANT procedure in the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This is a retrospective, multicenter longitudinal study gathering cases of hand surgery subjected to the WALANT technique in the Hospitals Dr. Radamés Nardini and IFOR during the COVID-19 pandemic (August 2020). As a parameter, the verbal numerical rating scale for twenty patients referring to the preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative periods was applied. Results: The patients did not feel any pain during surgery, which showed the efficiency of the anesthetic technique in its purpose. Conclusion: The results indicate the WALANT technique as beneficial when facing the COVID-19 pandemic, as the main differential of the technique is that it is applied by a well-trained orthopedic hand surgeon. Level of Evidence IV, Case Series.