Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Safety and use of EMLA cream for jugular catheters in cats
By Wagner, Karin A et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2006·Department of Medical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Adverse effects of EMLA (lidocaine/prilocaine) cream and efficacy for the placement of jugular catheters in hospitalized cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 31 hospitalized cats were treated with a topical cream called EMLA, which contains lidocaine and prilocaine, to see if it could help reduce discomfort during the placement of jugular catheters. The cream was applied to the area for an hour before the procedure, and the cats showed no adverse effects from the treatment. While the EMLA-treated cats struggled less during the catheter placement compared to those who received a placebo, the difference wasn't significant enough to strongly recommend its use for this specific procedure. However, EMLA was found to be safe and may be helpful for other procedures like skin mass removal or drawing blood.
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Abstract
EMLA is a lidocaine/prilocaine cream used for topical analgesia in human pediatric patients. The purpose of this study was to establish the safety of EMLA in clinically ill cats, to measure systemic absorption and to determine whether EMLA reduced the need for sedation for the placement of jugular catheters. Thirty-one cats were randomized to either a placebo or EMLA cream group. Cream was applied to a 10 cm(2) area over the jugular vein, with 1h of occlusive dressing. Neither anesthetic was systemically absorbed in any cat, and no adverse clinical signs were observed. Struggling during catheter placement was less in the EMLA-treated cats compared to placebo, but did not reach significance (P = 0.06). Jugular catheters were successfully placed in 60% of EMLA-treated cats and 38% of placebo cats; this difference was not statistically significant and may not justify the added steps of EMLA cream administration for this purpose. However, EMLA does appear to be safe in clinically ill cats, and may be useful for other applications such as for skin mass removal or repeated venepuncture.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16378746/