Pain Relief of the local Anaesthetic Cream(EMLA) for Pediatric Minor Inasive Procedures

Ahn, Jun Hyoung; Park, Young Hoon; Hah, Jeong Ok

Abstract

PURPOSE: Pain inflicted by diagnostic or therapeutic procefures is a major source of concern for young patients, their families, and the medical staff. Needle puncture may be painful, is often unpleasant and occasionally can cause considerable distress. Studies on eutectic combinations of two anesthetic drugs are rare. In this article, we evaluate the efficacy of a new topical anesthetic cream(EMLA:eutectic mixture of local anaesthetis) in reducing the pain associated with the various minor invasive procedures.
METHODS
The study was double-blind and placebo-controlled and included 71 children aged 5 to 15 years. The children were pediatric procedures such as lumbar puncture, bone marrow aspiration, blood sampling, intravenous catheterization, and kidney biopsy. The assessment of pain was made by McGrath's face scale and Oucher pain scale in preschool children, and by Verbal rating scale and Visual analogue scale in school children.
RESULTS
Of the 117 applications, there were 71 applications(43 bods, 28 girls( of EMLA and 46(27 boys, 19 girls) with placebo, 55 prescholl children and 62 school children. The pain scores of EMLA treated preschool and shool children were lower than placebo treated children significantly(McGrath's face scale, Verbal rating scale, and Visual analogue scale : p<0.01, Oucher pain scale : p<0.05). Transient local skin reactions after EMLA consisted of erythema(n=5), pallor(n=2), itching(n=2), and burning(n=1) in a few patients at the site of application.
CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that the use of EMLA is an effective and safe method for reducing the pain from the various pediatric minor invasive procedures