General and/or regional anesthesia for vascular surgery. A retrospective evaluation

Two hundred sixty three patients for extrathoracic vascular surgery of the arterial vessels, were evaluated retrospectively in order to assess the role of regional anesthesia in this group. In 33.8% regional anethesia with or without some form of suppletion was considered to be the anesthetic of choice. Regional anesthesia is especially indicated in those patients admitted for intractable ischaemic pain. As an anesthetic for the surgical procedure, it should be considered as a choice possibility as good as general anesthesia and in some cases as a better one.