Contact versus peribulbar anaesthesia in trabeculectomy: a prospective randomized clinical study

To compare the pre-, intra- and postoperative pain scores and complication rates in trabeculectomy under contact-topical anaesthesia versus peribulbar injection anaesthesia.

A total of 100 patients selected to undergo primary trabeculectomy were randomly allocated to receive either contact or peribulbar anaesthesia. Patients were asked to rate their pain levels on a 5-point scale for four periods: during the administration of the anaesthetic agent, during surgery, immediately after surgery and 24 hours postoperatively. At the same time, the surgeon was asked to record his subjective assessment of the stress he himself had suffered during the course of the intervention. Surgical parameters, intra- and early postoperative complications were also evaluated.

The difference between groups was statistically significant during anaesthetic administration. Six patients who received contact-topical anaesthesia reported mild discomfort during delivery of the anaesthetic agent, while 43 patients complained of mild to severe pain during the injection of bupivacaine (p < 0.001). Thirty-two patients in the contact anaesthesia group and 26 in the injected anaesthesia group reported no pain during surgery (p = 0.127). Only one patient in each group reported mild pain 30 min postoperatively. We found no differences between pain rates after surgery. Complications included prolonged chemosis and we also noted that conjunctival haemorrhage occurred more frequently in the peribulbar group than in the contact anaesthesia group (p = 0.012).

Both anaesthetic methods provided high levels of pain control without additional sedation during surgery. The use of contact-topical anaesthesia reduces both pain and the possibility of complications during the administration of anaesthetics.