Wide Awake Local Anesthesia No Tourniquet Endoscopic Cubital Tunnel Release.

Abstract

As demands for faster return to function, improvement in surgical scarring, and minimal disruption to personal schedule have increased, so also have the demands increased for minimally invasive procedures under the wide awake, local anesthetic, no tourniquet method. However, owing to the subcutaneous yet constrained position of the ulnar nerve at the elbow, wide-awake endoscopic cubital tunnel release has remained a technical challenge. We describe a 2-stage local anesthetic injection method that safely introduces local anesthetic within the cubital tunnel and simultaneously achieves comfort, sufficient visualization, and the ability to decompress multiple compression sites through a minimal incision.