Enhanced tactile resolution of the contralateral side after surgery and regional anesthesia of the hand.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether enhancement of tactile resolution (measured with Grating Orientation Task) can be demonstrated for patients undergoing regional anesthesia during hand surgery compared with surgery in general anesthesia and nonoperative controls. Regional anesthesia (nine patients) induced a significant improvement in contralateral tactile resolution at 10 and 24 h after the operation (P<0.01 and <0.05) compared with baseline. In the general anesthesia group (10 patients), tactile resolution improved significantly over time, but to a lesser extent than in the regional anesthesia group. When comparing with the control group (10 individuals), only the regional anesthesia group showed significantly increased tactile resolution at both the time points (P<0.01 and P<0.05), postoperatively.