Combined regional and general anesthesia for ambulatory peripheral orthopedic surgery in children

Pediatric orthopedic surgery is rarely done in an outpatient setting because of the postoperative pain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the children's comfort and parents' satisfaction after ambulatory peripheral pediatric orthopedic surgery performed under general anesthesia combined with regional anesthesia (RA). Sixty consecutive children were enrolled in this prospective study. All children fulfilled inclusion criteria for outpatient and for RA and parents received proper information regarding their child postoperative care. Postoperative pain control was sustained for 48 h using routine paracetamol, ibuprofen, and oral tramadol if needed. A telephone survey was conducted on day 1 and day 2 to evaluate pain scores, limb motor function, occurrence of postoperative nausea and vomiting, and feeding, sleep or play disturbance. The parents were also asked about their overall satisfaction rate and the choice of ambulatory mode versus inpatient admission in case of future orthopedic procedure. A total of 34 soft tissue procedures and 26 bony procedures were performed. 63.3% recovered motor function before discharge from the postanesthesia care unit. Low pain scores and good postoperative comfort were observed. Parents' satisfaction was greater than eight out of 10 in 88.3% of the cases, and 85% of the parents would choose ambulatory surgery in case of a second procedure. RA used with level I or II analgesics is compatible with ambulatory peripheral pediatric orthopedic surgery. Resulting good analgesia and postoperative comfort render the ambulatory mode to be favored by the parents.