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Intracameral anesthesia may prevent post-phaco complications
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GUADALAJARA, Mexico — An intracameral injection of lidocaine spares patients the postoperative discomfort that can accompany retrobulbar injections, according to one ophthalmologist speaking here.
José Luis Salinas Gallegos, MD, and colleagues from the Association to Avoid Blindness in Mexico performed phacoemulsification surgery and IOL implantation on 100 patients. These patients were divided into two groups. Group 1 included 50 patients treated with an intracameral injection of 0.2 mL of 1% lidocaine along with Xylocaine (AstraZeneca). Group 2 included 50 patients treated with a 2.5 mL retrobulbar injection of 2% lidocaine. Dr. Salinas Gallegos presented the results here at the Mexican Congress of Ophthalmology.
“Various reports exist about the use of topical and intracameral anesthesia in cataract surgery, but there are few reports about the endothelial toxicity of intracameral anesthesia, as well as results about associated pain,” he said.
Preoperatively, no patients treated with an intracameral injection experienced any pain. However, 15 patients in the retrobulbar group experienced light pain, and 33 experienced moderate pain. There was no major difference reported during surgery, he said.
Similarly, no patients in group 1 experienced pain or required analgesics, while 70% of patients in group 2 experienced light pain and 30% required analgesics, Dr. Salinas Gallegos said. He added that they found no significant difference in endothelial cell loss between groups.