Outpatient breast surgery under intercostal block anesthesia.

During the past 3 years, we have performed various breast operations in 320 patients under local anesthesia, using intercostal nerve block. The amount of local anesthetic solution required has been about 20 ml 1% lidocaine for blocking both sides, and an additional 24 ml of 0.5% lidocaine during the surgery. This dosage is well within safe limits. We have found that various breast operations, ranging from augmentation mammaplasty to a staged reconstruction after mastectomy, can be done with this method of anesthesia. The complications attributable to the nerve block were nil in our series.