• Ali Gur and Erdal Tekin.
• Ataturk University School of Medicine, Clinical Research, Development and Design Application and Research Center, Erzurum, Turkey; Department of Emergency, School of Medicine, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey. Electronic address: aligur@atauni.edu.tr.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2021 Nov 1; 49: 89-93.

AimRadial artery blood gas sampling is a very common procedure undertaken in the emergency department to evaluate respiratory and metabolic parameters. This intervention causes both anxiety and pain for the patient. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the analgesic efficacy of lidocaine spray compared to a placebo during radial artery blood gas sampling.MethodsThis study was conducted in the emergency department of a tertiary hospital with a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. A total of 144 patients were randomly divided into two groups: One group (n = 72) received 10% lidocaine spray and the other (n = 72) was the placebo group. The analgesic efficacy of the 10% lidocaine spray was compared with the placebo group using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS).ResultsIn the evaluation of the analgesic efficacy of the 10% lidocaine spray, the VAS score was 1.5 [interquartile range (IQR): 2.0] for the lidocaine group and 5 (IQR: 2.0) for the placebo group. The role of lidocaine spray in reducing pain was statistically significant compared to the placebo (p = 0.000).ConclusionIn blood gas sampling, 10% lidocaine spray has analgesic efficacy. Therefore, we recommend the use of lidocaine spray while performing arterial blood gas sampling in emergency departments.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

27 keywords...

hide…