Minimizing the Pain of Local Anesthesia Administration in Interventional Radiology with an Anesthetic Portal Technique

Objective This article assesses the effectiveness of a standardized local anesthetic (LA) technique designed to minimize the pain of local anesthesia administration in interventional radiology (IR). Materials and Methods A prospective study compared participants' experience in a control group (n = 63) of random LA administration techniques to a separate experimental group (n = 60) with a standardized technique based on known methods to minimize the pain of LA. Participants in each group were surveyed after LA administration to assess perceived pain and number of times a painful stick was felt. Participants were also asked to compare LA pain to prior experiences with LA, and to compare the overall pain experienced during the procedure to expected pain. Statistical Analysis Ordinal variable distribution analyses were performed using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Categorical variable analyses were performed with the Pearson's global exact chi-square test. Results Pain of LA (mean 1.1 vs. 3.3 on a 0–10 scale, p < 0.001), number of times a painful stick was felt (mean 0.8 vs. 1.9 times, p < 0.001), and overall pain during the procedure (mean 1.5 vs. 3.4 on 0–10 scale, p < 0.001) were significantly less using the standardized versus random techniques. Compared with prior experiences of LA, pain using the standardized technique was less in 77.6%, the same in 22.4%, and more in 0% of patients while pain using the random technique was less in 46.4%, the same in 39.3%, and more in 14.3% of patients (p < 0.05). Conclusion Severity and frequency of pain from LA administration in IR procedures is minimized using a standardized anesthetic portal technique. This technique may also decrease overall pain experienced during IR procedures as well.