Buffered versus plain lidocaine for digital nerve blocks

✍ Scribed by Joel M Bartfield; David T Ford; Peter J Homer

• Book ID: 104310642
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 296 KB
• Volume: 22
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1097-6760
• DOI: 10.1016/s0196-0644(05)80206-9

✦ Synopsis

Participants: Adults not allergic to lidocaine requiring a digital nerve block.

Interventions: Subjects received digital nerve blocks by injection of buffered lidocaine on one side and plain lidocaine on the other in a predetermined, randomized order. Pain of infiltration was assessed. Scores were compared using a two-tailed t-test. Standard 1% lidocaine was used if additional anesthetic was required.

Measurements and main results: Thirty-one patients were enrolled. Buffered lidocaine was significantly less painful to administer than plain lidocaine (P< .001; t= 4.21). Supplemental anesthesia was required less often for buffered lidocaine (two times) compared with plain Iidocaine (six times), although this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Because it causes less pain and is equally efficacious, buffered lidocaine is preferable to plain lidocaine for digital nerve blocks in adults.