Abstract
We present a comparison of one quadrant sub-Tenon's anaesthesia and peribulbar anaesthesia. Patient discomfort during injection of anaesthetic and during cataract surgery was assessed using a 10-point visual analogue scale ranging from no pain to the worst pain imaginable. Data are available for 74 patients undergoing cataract surgery under peribulbar anaesthesia and for 55 patients in whom sub-Tenon's anaesthesia was used. Pain scores for administration of anaesthetic were significantly lower (Kruskal–Wallis H-test, p<0.01) for sub-Tenon's anaesthesia (mean 1.4) compared with the peribulbar technique (mean 2.4). However, a similar number of patients experienced pain of greater than 3 for the two techniques (10 (18.5%) for sub-Tenon's and 14 (18.9%) for peribulbar). Per-operative pain scores for sub-Tenon's anaesthesia (mean 0.5) were lower than those for peribulbar anaesthesia (mean 1.2) but not significantly so (Kruskal–Wallis H-test, p = 0.073). Significantly fewer patients, however, experienced pain of greater than 3 (Fisher exact test, p<0.05) in the sub-Tenon's group. In addition less anaesthetic solution and a shorter interval from administration to surgery was required in the sub-Tenon's group. Sub-Tenon's anaesthesia appears to be a more effective method of anaesthesia than the peribulbar method.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Courtney P . National cataract surgery survey. Eye 1992;6:487–92.
Murdoch IE . Peribulbar versus retrobulbar anaesthesia. Eye 1990;4:445–9.
Redmond RM, Dallas NL . Extracapsular cataract extraction under local anaesthesia without retrobulbar anaesthesia. Br J Ophthalmol 1990;74:203–4.
Stevens JD . A new local anaesthetic technique for cataract extraction by one quadrant sub-Tenon's infiltration. Br J Ophthalmol 1992;76:670–4.
Davis DB, Mandel MR . Posterior peribulbar anaesthesia: alternative to retrobulbar anaesthesia. J Cataract Refract Surg 1986;12:182–4.
Mount AM, Seward HC . Scleral perforations during peribulbar anaesthesia. Eye 1993;7:766–7.
Hawksworth NR . Peribulbar anaesthesia [letter]. Br J Ophthalmol 1992;76:254.
Hansen EA, Mein CE, Mazzoli R . Ocular anaesthesia for cataract surgery: a direct sub-Tenon's approach. Ophthalmic Surg 1990;21:696–9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Briggs, M., Beck, S. & Esakowitz, L. Sub-Tenon's versus peribulbar anaesthesia for cataract surgery. Eye 11, 639–643 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1997.169
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1997.169
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
The effect of post-traumatic-stress-disorder on intra-operative analgesia in a veteran population during cataract procedures carried out using retrobulbar or topical anesthesia: a retrospective study
BMC Ophthalmology (2017)
-
Efficacy of sub-Tenon's block using an equal volume of local anaesthetic administered either as a single or as divided doses. A randomised clinical trial
BMC Anesthesiology (2009)
-
Comparison of sub-Tenon's anaesthesia by different delivery techniques in cataract surgery
Eye (1999)
-
Letter
Eye (1998)
-
Letter
Eye (1998)