Comparison of the Treatment Results for Ganglions of the Hand and Wrist According to General Anesthesia and Local Anesthesia

Ha, Do Hyung; Gu, Jeong Whan; Yoo, Hee Mock; Park, Cheol Ho

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A ganglion of the hand and the wrist most commonly occurs in the upper extremities. It is reported that its excision under general anesthesia has the highest rate of complete recovery of 94%. But the tumor of the hand is often experienced in the initial treatment. The study was to compare the two groups, one group undergoing surgical operations under local anesthesia at private clinics and the other group operated under general anesthesia at orthopedics of general hospitals.
METHODS
The general anesthesia group were 56 cases with tumor only in hand and wrist who had operational treatments with a diagnosis of ganglion at orthopedics in a certain general hospital from 1990 to 1999. The local anesthesia group were 68 cases with tumor only in hand and wrist who had operational treatments with a diagnosis of ganglion in 19 private clinics from 1992 to 2000. The relationship between the results of the two groups were compared and analysed.
RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the general characteristics between the two groups (P>0.05). The recurrence rates were 8.9% in the general anesthesia group and 11.8% in the local anesthesia group, and the average recurrence periods were 9.4 months and 12 months, respectively. The two groups did not show significant difference in the recurrence rate and recurrence period (P>0.05). The recurrence rates of ganglion according to age and size also showed no significant difference (P>0.05). The two groups showed a high significance in the recurrence rate when they were related to the joint capsule (P=0.05).
CONCLUSION
There was a significant relationship between the size of ganglion of the hand and its association with articular membrane with the recurrence rate, but there was no difference in the anesthetic techniques.