Local anesthesia for extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy: a double-blind, prospective, randomized study

The efficacy of local anesthesia in decreasing intravenous analgesic requirements during extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy with a second-generation lithotriptor was studied.

Subcutaneous infiltration was performed before the procedure. Sixty-nine patients (ASA I-II) were randomly allocated into four groups. Lidocaine 1% plus epinephrine (5 microg/ml) were infiltrated subcutaneously in a group of patients with ureteral stones (group UL), and a group with renal stones (group RL). The same amount of saline was administered to a group of patients with ureteral stones (group UC), and a group with renal stones (group RC).

Patients with ureteral stones needed higher doses of intravenous analgesic. Neither patients with renal stones nor patients with ureteral stones administered local anesthetic required less intravenous analgesic than patients given placebo.

Local anesthesia did not decrease the requirement of intravenous doses of analgesics in patients treated with a second-generation lithotriptor (Dornier MPL 9000).