First Author: K.Jasani UNITED KINGDOM
Co Author(s): S. Bansal K. Taherian
Purpose:
There are considerable pressures in various health economies at present to reduce costs whilst maintaining patient safety and clinical efficacy. We report a new simplified regime for the administration of Sub-Tenon’s anaesthesia offering a cost saving of up to 95% over our standard regime (2% Bupivacaine + 2% Lignocaine + Hyaluronidase) whilst maintaining total safety and efficacy.
Setting:
: A National Health Service teaching hospital in the UK.
Methods:
Following topical anaesthesia with Proxymetacaine 0.5% drops, 2.5ml of 2% Lignocaine with 1:200000 adrenaline was administered as a Sub-Tenon’s injection to 100 eyes of consecutive patients undergoing phacoemulsification. All patients were subjected to routine follow up arrangements. Pain levels during the administration of the injection and subsequently during surgery were monitored by measuring Visual Analogue Pain (VAP) scores via a prospective questionnaire administered to all patients immediately after the operation.
Results:
There were 100 eyes of patients undergoing cataract surgery included in this study. No patient required top up anaesthesia during the surgery and no serious anaesthetic related intra or post-operative complication was noted in any of the patients. The mean VAP score during delivery of anaesthetic and for the duration of surgery was both 0.
Conclusions:
Our results show that this regime for administration of Sub-Tenon’s anaesthesia meets the standards required in terms of both safety and efficacy whilst delivering considerable cost savings. We recommend its routine use for the reasons cited above.
Financial Disclosure:
No
