Abstract
Purpose. Prilocaine has recently been introduced for use in ocular local anaesthesia. A prospective randomised double-masked study was undertaken to assess the efficacy of prilocaine 2% plain versus a mixture of lignocaine 1% and bupivacaine 0.5%, each with hyaluronidase.
Methods. Seventy-five patients were recruited. Local anaesthetic was given by a two-injection transconjunctival peribulbar technique. Injection and perioperative pain were graded by visual analogue pain score (range 0-10). Akinesia and orbicularis function were graded by the surgeon.
Results. The two anaesthetic mixtures were comparable in efficacy in producing anaesthesia and akinesia. Using the Mann-Whitney U-test for significance, pain of injection ranked as a mean of 0.88 for prilocaine and 1.03 for lignocaine and bupivacaine (p = 0.48, U = 635.5) Perioperative pain was ranked as a mean of 1.17 for prilocaine and 0.91 for lignocaine and bupivacaine (p = 0.41, U = 629.0).
Conclusions. Prilocaine is a useful alternative anaesthetic agent for eye surgery that has low toxicity and is effective without adrenaline.
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Henderson, T., Franks, W. Peribulbar anaesthesia for cataract surgery: Prilocaine versus lignocaine and bupivacaine. Eye 10, 497–500 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1996.109
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1996.109