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A randomized, double-blind comparison study of EMLA and ELA-Max for topical anesthesia in children undergoing

Jeffrey L Koh1, Dale Harrison, Robert Myers

  • 1Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA. kohj@ohsu.edu

Paediatric Anaesthesia
|December 17, 2004
PubMed

Insights

ELA-Max cream applied for 30 minutes provides topical anesthesia for pediatric intravenous insertions as effectively as EMLA cream applied for 60 minutes. Both treatments showed similar pain reduction, though ELA-Max resulted in less skin blanching.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Anesthesiology
  • Pain Management
  • Dermatology

Background:

  • Topical anesthetics reduce needle-puncture pain in children, commonly using EMLA cream.
  • ELA-Max is a newer anesthetic cream.
  • This study compares ELA-Max (30 min) to EMLA (60 min) for pediatric IV insertion anesthesia.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the efficacy of ELA-Max (30-min application) versus EMLA (60-min application) for topical anesthesia in children undergoing intravenous insertions.
  • To evaluate pain reduction and procedural ease using Visual Analog Scales (VAS) and anesthesiologist assessments.

Main Methods:

  • Sixty children (ages 8-17) requiring IV insertion were randomized into two groups: ELA-Max (n=30) or EMLA (n=30).
  • Children self-reported pain using a 100-mm Visual Analog Scale (VAS).
  • Anesthesiologists assessed skin blanching and difficulty of IV placement.

Main Results:

  • No significant difference in pain ratings between ELA-Max (mean=25.7) and EMLA (mean=26.8) groups (P=0.87).
  • ELA-Max showed significantly less skin blanching (P=0.04) compared to EMLA.
  • No difference in the difficulty of IV placement was observed between groups (P=0.73).

Conclusions:

  • A 30-minute application of ELA-Max with occlusion is as effective as a 60-minute application of EMLA with occlusion for pediatric IV insertion anesthesia.
  • ELA-Max offers comparable pain relief to EMLA with a shorter application time.
  • Further research may explore the implications of reduced blanching with ELA-Max.
Abstract

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