A prospective, double-blind, mixed, crossover study was conducted to determine the perception of
pain associated with intradermal
lidocaine and
chloroprocaine for insertion of an 18-gauge intravenous
catheter. A convenience sample of 64 healthy, adult volunteers was used. Each participant received an
intradermal injection of
lidocaine or
chloroprocaine on the dorsum of one hand followed by insertion of an 18-gauge intravenous
catheter. The procedure was repeated on the opposite hand with the other
anesthetic. Half of the subjects received
lidocaine first, and half received
chloroprocaine first. Subjects were asked to rate their
pain on a 100-mm visual analogue scale immediately after injection of each
local anesthetic and immediately after insertion of the
catheter. A repeated analysis of variance was used to determine whether there was significant difference in
pain associated with the
injections and with the insertion of the
catheters. There was no significant difference in the amount of
pain associated with the
intradermal injections (P = .955) or with insertion of an 18-gauge needle (P = .977). Both
local anesthetics were effective in reducing
pain from the initial injection of the
local anesthetics to the insertion of the 18-gauge needle (P = .000).