Grosse-Steffen T, et al. - In this study, analysts research the topical application of a eutectic mixture of lidocaine/prilocaine (EMLA®) cream after caesarean section (CS) and its impact on postoperative pain, time to mobilisation, and time to discharge. The postoperative application of EMLA® cream after CS did not decrease postoperative pain or time to mobilisation or discharge, so that its utilization in this context has to be seen critically.

Methods

• For this study, they designed a randomised, placebo-controlled trial.
• In this study, a total of 189 pregnant women were enlisted; full data sets were available for 139 of them, who were prospectively randomised to receive either placebo (control group) or EMLA® cream (study group) on the CS lesion directly and also 24 h after surgery.
• Postoperative pain was evaluated 24 and 48 h after surgery utilizing the short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ).
• In both groups, they evaluated additional analgesic pain medication on demand.

Results

• A total of 62 women were allocated randomly to the study and 77 patients to the control group before primary CS.
• There were no statistically significant differences in regards to demographic and surgical parameters comparing both collectives.
• In addition, the postoperative total pain scores after 24 h [McGill total: 38.5 (0-102) vs. 50 (0-120) p = 0.0889] and also after 48 h [24 (0-79) vs. 30.5 (0-92); p = 0.1455] exhibited no major differences.
• Furthermore, time to mobilisation (hours) [9.68 (2.18-51.38) vs. 9.47 (4.18-41.77); p = 0.5919] and time to discharge (hours) [98.6 (54.08-170.15) vs. 98.2 (43.45-195.87); p = 0.5331] were comparable.