Dr. Abdalmajid Katranji

I always advise people who ask me questions online to make sure they communicate their questions to the appropriate medical professionals taking care of them directly as they will be the most informed about your case and general health. With that in mind, most hand surgery cases when done electively, which means non emergency or not urgent, are performed with a form of anesthesia called MAC. This is called monitored anesthesia care. This puts you into a form of sleep similar to what people who get a colonoscopy. Think of the best nap you have ever taken. This form of amesthesia requires the use of local anesthetic such as Marcaine or Lidocaine to control the pain at the surgical site. Some people provide local infiltrarion of the numbing agents at the site of surgery while others require will perform a regional block, before the surgery, which renders the whole arm numb. The next level of anesthesia is the use of a specialized oral tube called General Anesthesia with LMA. This is between a MAC and a full General Anesthesia with an endotracheal tube, which is a tube into your airway proper. All forms have their risks and benefits. Some hand surgeons will do the procedure under regional block only without any form of sleeping medications. The decision on what level of anesthesia is directly linked to your overall medical condition so it is important to have yout medical history as updated and accurate as possible. I hope this helps and do not forget to discuss this with you hand surgeon and anesthesiologist.