Subtenons lidocaine injection for postoperative pain relief after strabismus surgery in children: a pilot study

Richard M Sheard, Jodhbir S Mehta, John-S Barry, Catey Bunce, G W Adams

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Ophthalmologists are now encouraged to perform strabismus surgery as an outpatient procedure, but postoperative pain may be a barrier to discharge. Systemic analgesics have side effects or are contraindicated in some patients. We designed a trial to determine the efficacy of subtenons lidocaine injection at reducing postoperative pain and systemic analgesia requirements.

METHODS: Children having unilateral primary horizontal muscle surgery were randomized to either receive an injection of 1 mL of 2% lidocaine into the inferonasal subtenons space or not. The child's parents, who were masked to the intervention, assessed pain over 4 hours postoperatively using an objective pain-scoring tool.

RESULTS: Seventeen children received injections and 14 did not. Five of the subtenons group required additional analgesia (29%) compared to 9 of the controls (64%, chi(2): P =.052). The pain scores at each time interval tended to be lower in the treatment group, compared to controls, statistically significantly so at the 2-hour observation (Mann-Whitney U test: P =.01).

CONCLUSIONS: These data provide some evidence of an association between the use of subtenons lidocaine injection and a reduction of pain experienced by children in the immediate postoperative period following primary strabismus surgery.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)38-41
Number of pages4
JournalJOURNAL- AAPOS
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2003

Keywords

  • Anesthetics, Local
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Injections
  • Lidocaine
  • Male
  • Ophthalmologic Surgical Procedures
  • Pain, Postoperative
  • Palliative Care
  • Pilot Projects
  • Single-Blind Method
  • Strabismus
  • Clinical Trial
  • Journal Article
  • Randomized Controlled Trial

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