Wide Awake Open Carpal Tunnel Release: The Effect of Local Anesthetics in the Postoperative Outcome

Optimization of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Using WALANT Method

As surgical management of carpal tunnel release (CTR) becomes ever more common, extensive research has emerged to optimize the contextualization of this procedure. In particular, CTR under the wide-awake, local-anesthesia, no-tourniquet (WALANT) technique has emerged as a cost-effective, safe, and straightforward option for the millions who undergo this procedure worldwide. CTR under WALANT is associated with considerable cost savings and workflow efficiencies; it can be safely and effectively executed in an outpatient clinic under field sterility with less use of resources and production of waste, and it has consistently demonstrated standard or better post-operative pain control and satisfaction among patients. In this review of the literature, we describe the current findings on CTR using the WALANT technique.

A membrane-protected microsolid phase-extraction method based on molecular imprinting and its application to the determination of local anesthetics in cosmetics

As local anesthetics (LAs) that are illegally added into cosmetics are harmful to consumer health, it is necessary to establish an efficient method for detecting these substances. Herein, a molecularly imprinted polymer (bupivacaine) was prepared by bulk polymerization and packed into a hollow fiber for use as an extraction phase to fabricate a membrane-protected microsolid phase-extraction device. The optimal values of the influencing parameters for the microextraction process were as follows: a sample solution pH of 9.0, a loading and washing time of 2 h and an elution time of 32 min. A GC-MS method was established for determination of local anesthetics and coupled with the microextraction method to successfully detect local anesthetics in cosmetic samples. The calibration curve for the proposed method was linear in the range of 0.4∼50 mg/L and showed a good correlation coefficient (r² ). The LODs for local anesthetics were in the range of 0.01∼0.71 mg/L. The molecularly imprinted polymer exhibited good imprinting and selectivity, and the microsolid phase-extraction device was simple and inexpensive and fabrication was reproducible. The combination of molecular imprinting technology, membrane separation and microsolid phase-extraction methods used in this study can potentially be applied to pretreat local anesthetics in cosmetic samples. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.