Preservative-free Lignocaine Research Articles

Intra-arterial regional anaesthesia (iara) - a peripheral experience

Intravenous regional anaesthesia is a simple, safe technique of anaesthesia of extremities for short procedures . The major fear with the use of the technique is local anaesthetic toxicity associated with high volumes of local anaesthetic used. Hence we decided to use reduced volume of local anaesthetic in the peripheral artery to produce satisfactory anaesthesia. A total of twelve patients scheduled to undergo short procedures of upper limb were taken for this study. After exsanguination and tourniquet application on the arm 1.5mg/kg of preservative free lignocaine as 0.5% solution was injected into the cannulated radial artery. The onset of analgesia was 89.92 ± 17.54 seconds. The anaesthesia was satisfactory in all cases except in two patients where there was a minimal discomfort with bony manipulation, which settled with 20 mg of iv pentazocine. The mean duration of surgery was 34.54±4.5 minutes. The mean volume of lignocaine used was only 15.58± 0.95 ml. No significant side effects were noted. We conclude that intra-arterial regional anaesthesia is a useful procedure in patients where there is a fear about local anaesthetic toxicity and the problem of difficult venous access. Key words: Intra-arterial regional anaesthesia, lignocaine DOI: 10.4038/slja.v18i1.1556 Sri Lankan Journal of Anaesthesiology 18(1): 20-22 (2010)

Does preservative-free lignocaine 1% for hydrodissection reduce pain during phacoemulsification?

Purpose To compare preservative-free 1% lignocaine with balanced salt solution (BSS®) in alleviating pain during hydrodissection in phacoemulsification cataract surgery. Setting West Norwich Hospital, Norfolk, United Kingdom. Methods This prospective double-masked trial comprised 68 patients having day-case phacoemulsification cataract surgery. Patients were randomly divided into 2 groups, receiving either BSS or lignocaine 1% solution for hydrodissection during routine uneventful phacoemulsification using topical anesthesia. The level of intraoperative pain was scored on a scale of 0 (no pain) to 10 (severe pain), and the scores between the 2 groups were compared. Results Of the 68 patients, 33 (49%) received BSS and 35 (51%), lignocaine 1% solution. A pain score greater than 2 was considered clinically significant; 28 patients (85%) in the BSS group and 25 (71%) in the lignocaine 1% group scored 2 or less. The chi-square and Mann–Whitney tests found no significant difference between the BSS and lignocaine 1% groups ( P = .30 and P = .432, respectively). Conclusion There was no significant difference in the pain scores in patients who received BSS or lignocaine 1% solution. Thus, we conclude that hydrodissecting with lignocaine 1% solution does not provide added pain relief during phacoemulsification.