Buffered versus plain lidocaine as a local anesthetic for simple laceration repair
✍ Scribed by Joel M Bartfield; Paul Gennis; Joseph Barbera; Brenda Breuer; E John Gallagher
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1990
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 319 KB
- Volume
- 19
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1097-6760
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Buffered lidocaine was compared with plain lidocaine as a local anesthetic for simple lacerations.
Design: Randomized, double-blind, prospective clinical trial.
Setting: Urban emergency department.
Type of participants: Ninety-one adult patients with simple linear lacerations were enrolled. Patients w~th allergy to lidocaine and patients with an abnormal mental status were excluded.
Interventions: Each wound edge was anesthetized with either plain or buffered lidocaine using a randomized, double-blind protocol. The pain of infiltration was measured with a previously validated visual analog pain scale.
Measurements and main results: Analysis of pooled data and paired data (using patients as their own controls) revealed that infiltrating buffered lidocaine was significantly less painful than plain lidocaine (P = .03 and P = .02, respectively). There was no significant difference in the a~esthetic effectiveness of the two agents during suturing.
Conclusion: Buffered lidocaine is preferable to plain lidocaine as a local anesthetic agent for the repair of simple lacerations.