Do topical anesthetics reduce periareolar injectional pain before sentinel lymph node biopsy?

BACKGROUND

Topical anesthetics have been used in various procedures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate efficacy of lidocaine/prilocaine cream in decreasing the pain of injection for sentinel lymph node biopsy.

METHODS

A prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted on female breast cancer patients undergoing periareolar injection for sentinel lymph node isolation. Subjects applied lidocaine/prilocaine cream or a placebo cream before injection and completed a survey postoperatively.

RESULTS

Twenty treatment and 19 control patients were studied. There was a trend for control subjects to indicate that the injection was "painful" or "extremely painful" more often than treatment subjects (52.6% vs 25.0%, respectively, P = .074). The treatment group was more likely to recommend the cream to other cancer patients (70.0% vs 42.1%), with a trend toward significance (P = .076).

CONCLUSIONS

This study showed no statistically significant reduction in pain scores in subjects receiving the topical anesthetic. Further studies targeting patients with low pain tolerance may prove more effective.