Lidocaine for Reduction of Pain Induced by Propofol in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Propofol is the most frequently used anaesthetic agent. Despite various anaesthetic benefits, propofol is not without side effects, pain on injection being the most common adverse effect. This study aimed to find the grade of pain reduced due to the injection of propofol after administration of lidocaine. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2015 to August 2015 in the operating theatre in a tertiary care hospital after taking ethical clearance with an ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Committee. A total of 64 participants fulfilling all inclusion criteria of both gender, age ranged from 16-65 years of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I and II ready for elective surgery under general anaesthesia with propofol pretreated with 60mg lidocaine with venous occlusion for one minute were observed. The pain was graded by the four point scale (0=none, 1=mild, 2=moderate, 3=severe). Haemodynamic variables were measured until just before intubation. Results: In patients pretreated with lidocaine, no pain 56 (87.5%), mild pain 8 (12.5%) and moderate pain 0 (0%) were observed. Conclusions: The grade of pain during injection of propofol was reduced in more than three-fourth of the patients after administration of pre-anaesthetic drug-like lidocaine.