Evaluation of Different Anesthesia Methods to Reduce Pain From Intratympanic Injections: A Prospective, Randomized Clinical Trial
Evaluation of Different Anesthesia Methods to Reduce Pain From Intratympanic Injections: A Prospective, Randomized Clinical Trial
SUMMARY Intratympanic injections commonly cause pain in the patients. Intratympanic steroid injection (ITS) application can be performed by direct injection without anesthesia or with local anesthesia induced by lidocaine spray, lidocaine injection, topical phenol, pantocaine, EMLA cream (lidocaine+prilocaine) or vibration anesthesia device (VAD). The advantage of VAD application over other anesthetic agents was that it eliminated the need to use local anesthetics that may disrupt wound healing. In addition, inducing anesthesia with VAD can be considered as an alternative method in patients allergic to drugs.
ABSTRACT In this study, we aimed to compare the efficacy of four methods including topical lidocaine spray, local anesthetic cream, vibration anesthesia device (VAD), and saline drops (control group) in the reduction of pain after intratympanic steroid injections (ITS's) and to demonstrate the effectiveness of VAD use. The prospective study included 40 patients aged 18-70 years with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Prior to each ITS, all the four methods including local anesthetic cream (EMLA® cream, AstraZeneca PLC), lidocaine spray (Vemcain® Spray), VAD (Blaine®, Blaine Labs, Santa Fe, USA), and saline drops (control) were administered in each patient. After each ITS, pain assessment was performed using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Numerical Rating Scales (NRS), and Verbal Rating Scales (VRS).
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria: