Efficacy of alkalinized lidocaine for reducing pain on intravenous and epidural catheterization

To investigate whether increasing the pH of lidocaine could reduce the pain caused by its skin infiltration as well as that caused by intravenous and epidural needle insertion.

A randomized, double-blind trial was undertaken in patients who were allocated to receive topical anesthesia with either plain (plain group; n = 25) or alkalinized lidocaine (alkalinized group; n = 25). An alkalinized lidocaine solution was prepared by adding 8.4% sodium bicarbonate to a plain 1% lidocaine solution at a ratio of 1 : 10. Pain was assessed using the verbal analog scale (VAS).

In the alkalinized group, the VAS scores on skin infiltration in the hand (2.5 +/- 1.4) and the back (2.7 +/- 1.4) were significantly lower than the respective scores in the plain group (3.5 +/- 1.4, and 4.9 +/- 1.9). Although the VAS score on intravenous needle insertion did not differ between the two groups, the VAS score on epidural needle insertion was significantly lower in the alkalinized group (1.3 +/- 1.0) than in the plain group (3.6 +/- 1.3).

Alkalinization of lidocaine was effective in attenuating pain on skin infiltration and on epidural needle insertion.