Does Awake Open Shoulder Surgery Provide Advantages for Time and Cost-Efficiency? A Single Center Experience

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Operating room usage time and the preferred anesthesia technique for surgery are among the factors affecting total hospital costs. Regional or general anesthesia may be preferred during shoulder surgery. This study investigated comparisons in time and the cost-effectiveness between ultrasonography-guided regional anesthesia and general anesthesia for open shoulder surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data of those patients who underwent open shoulder surgery between August, 2021 and March, 2022 were evaluated retrospectively. Ultrasonography-guided interscalene and superficial cervical plexus blocks were preferred for awake open shoulder surgery and the middle trunk block was added to this combination. Regional anesthesia was compared with general anesthesia in terms of time and cost-effectiveness. RESULTS: The data of 22 patients in the regional anesthesia group (group RA) and 28 patients in the general anesthesia group (group GA) were included in this study. The descriptive data and surgery types were similar between the groups (p>0.05). The Operating Room Usage Costs, Equipment and Medication Costs and total costs were significantly lower in the group RA compared to the group GA (p=0.00012, p=0.00025, p=0.00001, respectively). There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups with regards to the time of anesthesia administration and positioning (3.77 +/- 1.47 vs 12.82 +/- 1.72 minutes, p<0.0001), and the total operating room usage time (65.68 +/- 21.18 vs CONCLUSION: In our study, it was shown that the operating room usage time and cost in awake open shoulder surgeries were less than surgeries performed under general anesthesia.