Anesthetic Effect of Topical Agents in Cataract Surgery Ross B. L. MacIntyre, MD Paul S. Koch, MD Dr. Ross MacIntyre has no financial interests to disclose. Dr. Paul Koch is a paid consultant to and member of the medical advisory board of Ocusoft.
Background Small incision cataract surgery has led to widespread use of topical anesthetic agents Rapid onset/recovery Painless application Low risk Strategies Adequate anesthesia is important prior to placing a lid speculum and giving intracameral anesthetics Drops/aqueous Gels/viscous – advantage of prolonged corneal contact time +/- adjunct intracameral 9
Purpose To assess the efficacy four anesthetic methods in routine cataract surgery: Viscous tetracaine 0.5% Higher viscocity tetracaine 0.5% Viscous lidocaine 3.5% Intracameral lidocaine 1%
Methods Private surgical center IRB approved Prospective, randomized, double-blinded study Inclusion criteria: Routine cataract surgery by clear corneal phacoemulsification performed by single surgeon Exclusion criteria: Complicated cataract surgery requiring any intraocular device
Methods 160 patients randomized to 4 groups* 1: Viscous tetracaine 0.5% 2: Higher viscocity tetracaine 0.5% 3: Viscous lidocaine 3.5% 4: Intracameral lidocaine 1% Outcome measures Preoperative pain score (0-10) Postoperative pain score (0-10) Need for supplemental anesthesia *Groups 1-3 received topical anesthesia only, and all received 0.5 cc of a balanced salt solution intracamerally *Group 4 received topical proparacaine drops, then 0.25 cc of 1% unpreserved lidocaine intracamerally
Results 160 eyes of 160 patients No preoperative pain reported No additional anesthesia required All statistical analysis was performed using student t-test software available with Microsoft Excel, Office 2000
Results Patients with moderate/severe pain (score > 3) Viscous tetracaine 0.5%: 11 Higher viscocity tetracaine 0.5%: 3 Viscous lidocaine 3.5%: 4 Intracameral lidocaine 1%: 1
Results Pain score for viscous tetracaine 0.5% was significantly higher than Higher viscocity tetracaine 0.5% (p=0.037) Viscous lidocaine 3.5% (p=0.042) Intracameral lidocaine 1% (p<0.001) No statistical significant difference between higher viscocity tetracaine 0.5% and viscous lidocaine 3.5% (p=0.46) Both higher viscocity tetracaine 0.5% (p=0.032) and viscous lidocaine 3.5% (p=0.024) had statistically higher pain scores versus intracameral lidocaine 1%
Conclusions Higher viscocity tetracaine 0.5% and viscous lidocaine 3.5% provide similar anesthesia Both provide superior anesthesia compared to viscous tetracaine 0.5% Intracameral lidocaine gives superior pain control versus topical agents alone