Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Aug 1991
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialThickly and thinly applied lignocaine-prilocaine cream prior to venepuncture in children.
EMLA cream (Astra Pharmaceuticals) which contains lignocaine and prilocaine, is widely used in a thick layer to reduce the pain associated with venepuncture. Application of smaller amounts of cream lowers cost and may reduce side-effects. The efficacy of a thick layer (using 2.0 ml) and a thin layer (using 0.5 ml) of lignocaine-prilocaine cream prior to venepuncture was compared in a randomised study of one hundred children. ⋯ Children in the thin layer study group experienced slight pain more often than children in the thick layer study group (P less than 0.01). No child in either group experienced moderate or severe pain. It is concluded that a thin layer of lignocaine-prilocaine cream is not as effective as a thick layer in producing the pain-free venepuncture which is desirable in children.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Aug 1991
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialDoes combined epidural lignocaine and fentanyl provide better anaesthesia for ESWL than lignocaine alone?
The efficacy of epidural fentanyl combined with lignocaine 1.5% with adrenaline 1:200,000 was studied in a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial of two hundred patients undergoing extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy with or without ancillary procedures. The quality of anaesthesia was assessed using linear analogue pain scores, the patient's impression, and the rate of intra-operative intervention by the anaesthetist. ⋯ The only significant difference lay postoperatively in that the fentanyl-ancillary procedure sub-group had less pain approximately one hour postoperatively (P = 0.01). In the context of this study and in the presence of an adequate autonomic and somatic local anaesthetic blockade, the addition of epidural fentanyl does not appear to confer any significant advantage other than to enhance postoperative analgesia.