The American journal of emergency medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Comparison of tetracaine-adrenaline-cocaine (TAC) with topical lidocaine-epinephrine (TLE): efficacy and cost.
Topical anesthesia in the form of TAC (tetracaine, adrenaline, cocaine) solution has been used for wound repair. This pilot study was designed to determine if the topical anesthesia achieved using a mixture of lidocaine (5%) and epinephrine (1:2000) (TLE) is equivalent to the topical anesthesia obtained using a solution of tetracaine (0.5%), epinephrine (1: 2000), and cocaine (10.4%) (TAC). A prospective, randomized, double-blind trial was carried out from May 1992 to August 1992 at a community-based teaching hospital Emergency Department (ED) that receives 50,000 annual visits. ⋯ Seventeen patients were in the TLE group; 18 in the TAC group. The mean ages were compared and found to be similar (P = .40) between the two test groups. The pain scale values, the diameter of tissue blanch around laceration (halo size), and the time to laceration repair from the onset of application of anesthetic were compared and no difference was shown between the TAC and TLE groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)