Intravenous regional anesthesia for outpatient foot and ankle surgery: a prospective study.

A prospective study was undertaken in 39 patients undergoing 48 foot and ankle procedures using intravenous regional anesthesia (IVRA). IVRA was administered using 35 cc of 0.33% or 0.5% lidocaine. Single tourniquets inflated to 250 mm Hg were used at the ankle level. No supplemental analgesia or sedation was used. Those requiring supplemental local anesthetic infiltration were defined as IVRA failures. Thirty-one of the 39 patients (79.5%) tolerated the procedures with little or no discomfort, and 8 (20.5%) required additional local infiltration with 1% lidocaine. All 39 patients completed the procedures at the outpatient surgical unit without requiring conversion to other forms of anesthesia