• Jiong Yu, Wenxuan Chen, Qianyuan Liu, and Jingyi Mi.
• Department of Sports Medicine, Wuxi 9Th People's Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. ithiel.yu@icloud.com.
• BMC Anesthesiol. 2023 Apr 28; 23 (1): 144144.

BackgroundPain intensity may be varied during the needle advancing through different skin layers, injection into the intradermal layer may exclude mixed pain from deeper planes. This study aimed to investigate whether compressing a three-dimensional (3D)-printed disk against the skin may relieve pain associated with intradermal injection of local anesthetic which mimics the skin test procedure.MethodsAfter institutional review board approval, 3D-printed disks with projections were designed for this study. Enrolled patients were randomized to receive either a disk compressing against the axillary skin during the intradermal injection of local anesthesia (compressing disk group) or an intradermal injection of local anesthesia without any compression (no compressing disk group). The primary outcomes were pain intensity (100-mm visual analog scale) and satisfaction (5-point Likert scale) as assessed by patients.ResultsNinety patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists I-II physical status receiving intradermal local anesthesia prior to an ultrasound-guided axillary approach were included. Eighty-seven patients completed the study, with 44 and 43 patients in disk and no disk groups, respectively. Pain scores were significantly different (P < 0.001) in compressing disk (median, 10; IQR, 5-20) and no compressing disk (median, 30; IQR, 20-40) groups. The median satisfaction score was 5 in both groups. No complications occurred during follow-up.ConclusionCompressing a 3D-printed disk against the skin may reduce intradermal needle pain and offers an effective alternative for nerve block induction.© 2023. The Author(s).

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