Patient Tolerance During Outpatient Flexible Cystoscopy
A Prospective, Randomized, Double‐blind Study Comparing Plain Lubrication and Lidocaine Gel

Abstract

Objective: To compare the tolerance of flexible cystoscopy with topical anesthetic versus simple lubrication when the assigned lubricant is instilled 5 min before the exploration.

Material and Methods: A total of 185 consecutive patients were randomly assigned either to simple lubrication (Group 1) or to lidocaine hydrochloride gel (Group 2). Thirteen patients had some kind of difficulty during exploration (stenosis) that required additional manipulation or electrocoagulation for small relapses and were excluded from the final analysis, leaving 172 patients suitable for inclusion. After the intervention, all patients were surveyed regarding their discomfort and pain levels using a verbal scale and a visual analog scale ranging from zero to 10. A χ ² analysis was performed for comparison of qualitative covariables, and quantitative covariables were compared using Student's t‐test.

Results: The 172 patients were evenly distributed between the two groups. Of those in Group 1, 89% noted little or no discomfort, compared to 84% in Group 2. Some pain or intense pain was noted by 10% and 16% in Groups 1 and 2, respectively (p > 0.05). The average value on the visual analog scale was 2.10 and 1.97 in Groups 1 and 2, respectively (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: There are no differences in the perception of discomfort and pain by patients when anesthetic lubricant or simple lubrication are used if the waiting time before the exploration is 5 min.

• cystoscopy
• lidocaine
• pain
• urethra