Steroid Injection Knee Pain In Young Arthritics Unrelieved By EMLA Cream

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Steroid Injection Pain In Young Arthritics Unrelieved By Cream

http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/8525697700573E1885256D0500479A5A

A DGReview of : " Evaluation of Eutectic Lidocaine/Prilocaine Cream (EMLA)

for Steroid Joint Injection in Children with Juvenile Rheumatoid

Arthritis: A Double Blind, Randomized, Placebo Controlled Trial "

Journal of Rheumatology 2003;30:594-6.

Eutectic lidocaine/prilocaine cream offers no relief from the pain

caused by steroid joint injection in children with juvenile rheumatoid

arthritis, report researchers in Canada.

Dr Yosef Uziel and colleagues from the Hospital for Sick Children and

the University of Toronto, Ontario, undertook this randomised,

double-blind and placebo controlled trial of 31 children, examining the

efficacy of 2.5 g of the cream applied to the injection site prior to

steroid injection.

While the cream did not have a significant impact, the investigators did

note a trend toward an association of lower median pain scores in

children on the study cream as compared with those on placebo.

The subjects ranged in age from 8 to 18 years and were all scheduled for

steroid injection in the knee. They were randomised into two groups and

assigned to receive either the 2.5 g lidocaine/prilocaine cream or

placebo cream applied to the site between 60 and 90 minutes before the

injection.

Patients assessed the pain associated with initial needle insertion and

the subsequent steroid injection using a 10 cm visual analog scale.

Overall, there were no significant differences found in the pain

reported by the 17 patients using the lidocaine/prilocaine cream and the

14 using on placebo cream.