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Updated: May 26, 2025
Knee Arthrocentesis in Adults
Published on: February 25, 2022
Vapocoolant spray application during intra-articular knee injection: myth or reality?: A prospective randomized
Çağdaş Pamuk1, Resul Musaoğlu2, Ümit Gök2
1Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Silivri Anadolu Special Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
Background:
Intra-articular knee injections play a significant role in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. This study aims to investigate the effects of vapocoolant spray application during intra-articular injections on pain and anxiety compared with placebo and injections performed without any agent.
Methods:
This prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted to investigate the effect of vapocoolant spray application on pain associated with intra-articular injection compared with placebo and no analgesic agent. Three groups, each consisting of 55 patients, were formed randomly. Vapocoolant spray was applied to 1 group, a placebo was applied to 1 group, and no analgesic was applied to the other group, and the results were evaluated.
Results:
After exclusions from a total of 197 patients, 165 were included in the study. The demographic characteristics of the groups were similar. While there was no significant difference in pain levels during needle insertion between group 1 and group 2, the Visual Analog Scale scores of group 1 and group 2 were significantly lower compared with group 3 (P < .001).
Conclusion:
This study revealed that vapocoolant spray application had no significant advantage over placebo in terms of pain scores during intra-knee injection.
