Lidocaine

BOSTON — Adding sodium bicarbonate to steroid lidocaine injections for patients with certain hand conditions who also have high anxiety about undergoing hand injections may provide a less painful injection experience, results showed.

Along with advice and education, a single ultrasound-guided intra-articular injection of triamcinolone and lidocaine improved outcomes and reduced pain in patients with hip osteoarthritis, according to published results.

This week, the CDC reported that breakthrough infections are rare among the first 101 million fully vaccinated people; tai chi is found to be effective to reduce belly fat in older adults; the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine safety group says its reviewed ‘few’ reports of myocarditis in young people; a follow-up analysis supports tocilizumab in moderate-to-severe COVID-19-associated pneumonia; and lidocaine throat spray reduces cough frequency in patients with refractory chronic cough.

Lidocaine, delivered as a throat spray to the pharynx, reduced cough frequency in adults with refractory chronic cough, according to data published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.

Use of tumescent anesthesia allows for equal anesthetic distribution across large areas while decreasing the likelihood of lidocaine toxicity, according to a presentation at the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery annual meeting.

Epinephrine with a local anesthetic is safe and effective with no instances of digital necrosis or need for phentolamine reversal in patients undergoing “wide-awake” hand and upper extremity surgery, according published results.

Adding lidocaine to intralesional corticosteroid injections caused more pain compared with corticosteroid injections mixed with saline, according to a poster presented at the American Academy of Dermatology virtual meeting.

SAN FRANCISCO — Patients with wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema who received viscous topical anesthetics before anti-VEGF injections were at increased risk for development of endophthalmitis, according to a speaker.

The scheduled removal of a surgically implanted ripcord in a Baerveldt glaucoma drainage device resulted in similar recovery outcomes as in patients whose tubes opened spontaneously, according to a study published in Journal of Glaucoma.