Topical Anesthetic Effect of EMLA and Iranian Products in Preventing Pain During Intravenous Blood Sampling Procedures: a Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Background: The patients’ concerns about injection pain can cause some unwanted adverse reactions such as hypotension, vasovagal shock, syncope, and unconsciousness. Therefore, using a skin anesthetic can facilitate performing many medical procedures. Objectives: This double-blind randomized clinical trial was designed to compare the anesthetic effect of topical EMLA 5% cream with Iranian lidocaine 5% and benzocaine 5% creams. Patients and Methods: Sixty-four healthy volunteers were randomly allocated into two groups. In each individual, EMLA cream and one of Iranian topical anesthetic products, namely lidocaine 5% and benzocaine 5%, were tested. One hour before blood sampling, a predetermined amount of A or B cream was used on the right cubital fossa and the same amount of C or D cream on the left cubital fossa. Blood sampling was done via cubital fossa veins with a 2 cc syringe. The pain of blood sampling was recorded using visual analogue scale (VAS). Data were analyzed by student t-test and ANOVA using SPSS version 11. Results: At the end of study, the EMLA products (A and B) caused a significant decrease in pain (P < 0.05) in comparison with the products C (lidocaine) and D (benzocaine) while there was no differences between benzocaine and lidocaine. In this study, no significant side effect was observed. Conclusions: Although the results of this study showed superiority of application of EMLA cream as a topical anesthetic for pain relief of blood sampling, both lidocaine 5% and benzocaine 5% offer considerable efficacy in pain relief of venipuncture.