I’m having this surgery in three days. Could anyone help me. I’ve opted for local anaesthesia. Will this be enough? Also what can I expect my recovery to be like. My consultant podiatrist is doing this surgery.
Sarah,
Welcome! Very best wishes for this week!
What have you been told about your AVM? Is it relatively large so far as you’ve been told or relatively small? What treatment mode is proposed? I’m not an extremity AVMer but the impression I get is that the commonest treatment modes are sclerotherapy, perhaps with electroporation, or perhaps embolization.
Equally, I guess you’ve some pain from it: this appears to me to be the usual issue with an extremity AVM.
I’ve moved your post to a different category so that the Extremity team might see it.
Lots of love,
Richard
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Thankyou. Yes I’ve had pain for two years which has been one progressively worse over the past 6 months. I am a runner and still manage to run but can not put my foot to the floor bare footed ever because of the intensity of pain. The podiatrist originally thought it was an inclusion cyst but when my uss report came through it identified an AVM. Something I had never heard of before. It’s small in size measuring around 2x2cm. He has not discussed how this will be managed with me as at the last appointment we thought it was an inclusion cyst. Had a brief phone call with him last week and he told me not to worry and that this is something he can operate on. So I will see him on surgery day which is Tuesday. My concerns are blood flow to my foot! I’ve been told to be none weight baring for 4 weeks to allow the incision to heal.
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What I’d say is that hopefully some of the other extremity people might pitch in, though it is a holiday weekend in the US. Since you’re a runner, I assume you don’t have overgrowth of either leg to indicate any underlying mechanism. You can also have a read around this category by clicking on the AVM in Extremities text near the title.
Ask anything you like. Very best wishes for the week.
Richard
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Hi!!
I hope your surgery goes well..
My opinion is talk with a vascular surgeon, it is good to have and a second opinion and see the area with the avm..
You should talk with your doctor about the type of anesthesia. You should always think :
Your general health , If you do it in a hospital or a clinic, If you choose general, it is risky, if you choose local, you will be alert and you have to keep it together.
About what comes after the surgery. Always listen to the doctor, keep the wound clean in order to avoid issues, don’t think about the run..This takes time, the healing process and don’t rush it..Talk to your doctor about physiotherapy and if it helps your case..
And learn to hear your body, if something is wrong, go to the hospital…
* Sorry if my English are not good, I am not a native speaker
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Thank you. I appreciate your time to reply. I will do all you have advised. Still not decided on level of anaesthesia!! He said I can make a decision on the day and opt out of the local so just to attend nil by mouth for appointment. I’m just incredibly nervous about the blood flow to my foot however the surgeon seems very confident and I do trust him. I’m just thinking worse case scenario!
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Hiya, so many good wishes for you. I had procedure with local anaesthetic and felt nothing, no pain. Maybe i was lucky but for me there was no choice as general anaesthetic carries risk of another AVM rupture. Good luck with everything. You will be absolutely fine. xxx
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Hi! I also have one in my ankle that goes into the sole of my foot. My last surgery (I’ve had several) was the first one where they offered to try just local. I opted for general because I didn’t think I could keep it together/didn’t want to be awake to see all of the cutting and blood etc. These surgeries can be very difficult, and I also didn’t want to hear my surgeon potentially getting frustrated mid surgery. Also, just as tip if you decide to do full anesthesia - at my last procedure, they put ketamine in my anesthesia cocktail which helped with the post-op pain.
Have you consulted with a vascular surgeon or interventional radiologist? These things can be tricky to work with. Your avm is smaller than mine, so hopefully your recovery won’t be so rough, but I’ll also note that for me it was more like 6-8 weeks of recovery. At any rate, best of luck and speedy recovery!
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Hi. I can’t see why there would be any connection between these two. General anesthetic is a more risky procedure than local: it has a bigger impact on you and I guess there is always the risk of not coming out of general but I don’t see why it would affect the AVM treatment efficacy at all.
I was told it’s bec it causes your blood pressure to fluctuate but I’m not a dr but I’ve been told this by multiple consultants and anesthetists. I apologise if it’s incorrect. Everyone should of course take advice from their own practitioners, and not rely on others whose circumstances may be completely different.
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And i didn’t say it lessened the efficiency of the treatment just that I wasn’t given a choice for that reason.
Yeah, so it may be that your doctors were particularly concerned about the general spiking your blood pressure.
I had my brain catheter embolization procedure under general anesthetic (which is normal, I believe) and no indication that there was any particular contrary concern. If it does spike one’s blood pressure, then that could be a concern.
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