• Evren Erkul, Mustafa Babayigit, and Ozan Kuduban.
• Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Elazig Military Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. evrenerkul@yahoo.com
• Am J Rhinol Allergy. 2010 Sep 1;24(5):e123-6.

BackgroundOnly a few studies have so far compared the use of different local anesthetic agents in septoplasty procedure with regard to reduction in pain, effectiveness, and related complications. The aim of this study was to compare articaine and lidocaine as local anesthetics for septoplasty surgery, in terms of their efficacy and safety.MethodsSeventy patients randomized into two groups were included in this study. For local anesthesia, 35 patients received articaine and 35 received lidocaine. All patients were asked to rate their pain levels on a visual analog scale (VAS) at the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 12th, 18th, and 24th postoperative hours. In addition, analgesic consumption of each patient as well as postoperative complications was recorded in both groups.ResultsVAS scores for pain were significantly lower in the articaine group than in the lidocaine group at the 2nd, 6th, 8th, 12th, and 24th postoperative hours (p< 0.05). Comparison of the patients' usage of analgesics during the first 24 hours postoperatively showed that in the articaine group, the percentage of patients that had not used analgesics was 58.5%, and in the lidocaine group the corresponding figure was 41.5%.ConclusionArticaine is a safe local anesthetic agent with rapid onset of action. When compared with lidocaine, it is associated with improved tissue diffusion, rare postoperative complications, and less postoperative pain, thus, representing a safe and effective local anesthetic agent for septoplasty procedure.

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