New York—One of the first studies of its kind has found that primary and functional patencies of arteriovenous fistulas are significantly better when regional, rather than local, anesthesia is used. The study’s Scottish researchers thus recommended the use of brachial plexus block instead of local anesthesia as the anesthetic technique of choice for these procedures.
“There are over 100,000 arteriovenous fistulas performed in the [United States] every year,” said Alan