Mercill, Sharon L

Purpose: We sought to evaluate whether additional topical anesthetic, specifically proparacaine 0.5%, improved patient experience with intravitreal injections without hindering antisepsis. Methods: A prospective, randomized controlled trial was conducted including 36 eyes of 36 patients undergoing intravitreal injections. Patients were randomized to treatment with additional topical proparacaine 0.5% versus control after undergoing informed consent. All patients prior to intravitreal injection underwent conjunctival culture after one drop of topical proparacaine 0.5% was placed. Half of patients then received an additional drop of proparacaine and then underwent a second conjunctival culture. The other half of patients had a drop of povidone iodine and then a second conjunctival culture. Intravitreal injection followed conjunctival cultures. To evaluate their experience, patients were provided with a survey. Results: In total, 36 patients were enrolled in the study. Three of 36 (8.3%) patients had positive conjunctival cultures after proparacaine eye drops alone. One of 17 (5.8%) patients had a positive conjunctival culture after a second drop of proparacaine. One of 19 (5.3%) patients had a positive culture after proparacaine and povidone iodine. By noninferiority analysis, proparacaine was inferior to povidone iodine ( p = .28). Patient experience surveys did not differ between groups. Conclusion: Patient perception did not significantly differ whether or not additional proparacaine drops were used prior to intravitreal injection in a randomized controlled trial. While proparacaine has some antiseptic properties, these were found to be inferior to those of povidone iodine. Therefore, while povidone iodine is essential for antisepsis, additional proparacaine drops should not interfere with antisepsis.

Abstract Background Perineal wounds, created at the time of extended resection for locally advanced malignancy and following chemoradiation, are at risk of serious complications. Methods To determine whether immediate myocutaneous flap closure prevents complications, 57 patients treated with multimodality therapy and proctectomy (35 perineal wounds) or sacrectomy (22 posterior wounds) were studied. Patients were categorized according to whether they underwent primary skin and pelvic closure (group 1; n = 20); primary skin and omental pelvic closure (group 2; n = 24); or immediate myocutaneous flap closure (group 3; n = 13). Results Groups were similar with respect to age and sex; however, group 1 had more primary tumours and required less radical surgery and chemoirradiation than groups 2 and 3. Groups 1 and 2 experienced more complications overall (eight of 20, nine of 24 and three of 13 patients in groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively), more acute wound complications (seven of 20, nine of 24 and two of 13), delayed wound healing (three of 20, six of 24 and one of 13) and more reoperations for perineal wound problems (five of 20, seven of 24 and zero of 13). Patients in group 2 had a significantly longer hospital stay than those in group 1. Flap closure (group 3) did not increase the length of stay. The routine use of primary flap closure reduced overall wound complications (eight of 31 versus ten of 26 patients) and length of hospitalization (13 versus 17 days). Conclusion Complete wound healing was achieved in all patients; however, immediate myocutaneous flap closure reduced the need for readmission and reoperation.