Why General Anaesthesia For Partial Meniscectomy?

It was surprising to learn that general is the preferred choice, although local or regional are used also for this arthroscopic procedure, which entails the shaving of loose cartilage from the knee joint. Asking the surgeon is like talking to the wall. He mumbled something about having to use a tourniquet. Anyway, does anyone know why general anaesthesia is preferred?

Jack writes: > It was surprising to learn that general is the preferred choice, > although local or regional are used also for this arthroscopic > procedure, which entails the shaving of loose cartilage from the knee > joint. > > Asking the surgeon is like talking to the wall. He mumbled something > about having to use a tourniquet. Ask the anesthesiologist instead. > Anyway, does anyone know why general anaesthesia is preferred? I don't know that any type of anesthesia is mandated for most procedures. It's a choice of the anesthesiologist in cooperation with the surgeon or surgical team and (sometimes) the patient. -- Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 13:07:06 GMT, windswept@home.net (Jack) wrote: >It was surprising to learn that general is the preferred choice, >although local or regional are used also for this arthroscopic >procedure, which entails the shaving of loose cartilage from the knee >joint. > >Asking the surgeon is like talking to the wall. He mumbled something >about having to use a tourniquet. > >Anyway, does anyone know why general anaesthesia is preferred? Why general anaesthesia is preferred by any particular practitioner? Couldn't say. Just a somewhat educated guess: many/most docs assume that some patients nerves are not up to remaining still whilst the doc is excavating in his/her knee (or wherever). Simpler/safer to just put 'em all under. Think what could happen if the patient suffered an attack of anxiety and did a knee-jerk while the little scalpels were engaged. Or if a local was insufficient or wore off sooner than expected. I'd rather be 100% under for such procedure. Prost, Puddin'

because it hurts?? had one last year..excellent anesthesia guy..was under for less than an hour.and woke up instantly once the med was stopped..best general anesthesia experience I have ever had.and have had many no post op nausea..they filled the joint with lidocaine,,so post op pain was minimal for the first 12 hours as well.. having seen arthroscopies on the health channel..ain't no way anyone would stick that scope into my knee if I was awake.. "Jack" <windswept@home.net> wrote in message news:43f08475.6967062@news-60.giganews.com.. > It was surprising to learn that general is the preferred choice, > although local or regional are used also for this arthroscopic > procedure, which entails the shaving of loose cartilage from the knee > joint. > > Asking the surgeon is like talking to the wall. He mumbled something > about having to use a tourniquet. > > Anyway, does anyone know why general anaesthesia is preferred?

"Jack" <windswept@home.net> wrote in message news:43f08475.6967062@news-60.giganews.com.. > It was surprising to learn that general is the preferred choice, > although local or regional are used also for this arthroscopic > procedure, which entails the shaving of loose cartilage from the knee > joint. > > Asking the surgeon is like talking to the wall. He mumbled something > about having to use a tourniquet. > > Anyway, does anyone know why general anaesthesia is preferred? A simple arthroscopic meniscectomy is a short case, and having good relaxation is important. Spinal or epidural can be used, but really, that's more complicated and the PACU recovery is much slower. A femoral-sciatic block can be used, but is a little tricky, and if it doesn't work then you end up with general anesthesia anyway. Local anesthetic can also be used, but the same thing applies. Anything that doesn't uniformly allow complete patient cooperation and muscle relaxation makes the operation more difficult and take longer. Bottom line, that operation under local or regional anesthesia is no safer, no cheaper, and recovery is not uniformly quicker. With general anesthesia, the hassles to the patient and to the surgeon are less and patient acceptance is better. HMc