Use of intrarectal lidocaine gel in ultrasound-guided transrectal biopsies of the prostate

To know in a quantitative manner the degree of discomfort and pain of the biopsies of the prostate and to evaluate the effectiveness of the transrectal lidocaine. We performed 140 transrectal biopsies of the prostate, Patients were included on a random basis into two arms: one of them received intrarectal lidocaine, 20 mg (group 1, n = 71) and the other group received placebo (group 2, n = 28) both of them ten minutes prior the proceeding. The global pain mean was 3.7 (0 no pain, 10 highest pain) and the global discomfort mean was 3.5. The group 1 patients showed a trend to feel less pain and discomfort although it did not reach the necessary statistic significance (p = 0.7 y p = 0.5 respectively). We do not achieve the good results obtained by other groups in order to decrease the degree of pain and discomfort with the use of intrarectal lidocaine. We did not find relationship between the PSA level, previous biopsies, intrarectal lidocaina and degree of information received and the degree of pain and discomfort.